What is a conference committee?

For a bill to become law, it must clear a number of steps before arriving at the governor's desk. Most bills are not even scheduled for a committee hearing and die without much fanfare, while others might pass one chamber but never receive a hearing in the other. One of the later steps in the process is called a conference committee.

Once a bill has been passed by either the House or Senate, it then travels to the other chamber to begin the process again, typically being heard in a committee that deals with similar subjects, for example, the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Finance Committee. After passing out of committee, it then goes to the floor for debate. After it passes on the floor, it then returns to the originating chamber for final approval.

Most of the time, the bill is amended after arriving in the other chamber, and upon its return to the originating chamber, if the changes are not acceptable, a deal must be reached to decide on what will be sent to the governor's desk. 

Instead of going back and forth between the chambers until both agree on a final version, House and Senate leaders appoint a handful of members to act as representatives for their chamber in a conference committee.

The conference committee consists of five members from the relevant committee in each chamber who meet in private to hash out their differing opinions on the bill and decide what the final version will look like. The details of how negotiations occur in these committees are mysterious, but it usually involves a bit of give-and-take between the chambers so they each maintain their favored provisions on the bill. 

On April 16 and April 17, the House passed HB 2 and SB 2, the major school finance and school voucher bills, respectively. Since HB 2 has only passed the House, it will head to the Senate for consideration (and likely amendments), but SB 2 is returning to its originating chamber and thus will almost certainly end up in a conference committee within the next few weeks. 

In the past few sessions, the Senate appears to have had the upper hand in conference negotiations, but that is no guarantee that will be the same this session.

TCTA will keep you updated on the journeys of both HB 2 and SB 2 as they near the finish line.

The budget bill (SB 1), which the Senate passed March 26 and the House approved on April 11, is also headed to conference committee. The Senate has appointed Sens. Joan Huffman, Brandon Creighton, Lois Kolkhorst, Robert Nichols and Charles Schwertner to the budget conference committee. The House has appointed Reps. Greg Bonnen, Mary E. Gonzalez, Angelia Orr, Stan Kitzman and Armando Walle.