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The 84th Texas Legislative Session- What to Watch For

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This week, the Texas Legislature’s biennial legislative session began, kicking off a five-month period where Texas law may be proposed, discussed, debated, passed, and vetoed. Already 926 bills have been filed in the House, and 317 in the Senate. You can search bills and track their progress through use of the Texas Legislature Online . You may perform a bill search   by specifying author/sponsor, subjects, committee, and actions. For example, by specifying “water” as a subject, I can find ten bills already filed relating to the regulation of water in the state. To track the status of these bills during the legislative session you can create an account through the Texas Legislature Online , and add bills of interest to your alert list. Then, any time an action is taken on the bill, you will be notified by email.  

Here are a few bills that are already attracting attention:

Consolidating Health Agencies HB 550 & SB 219: The Sunset Advisory Commission has recommended that lawmakers in 2015 consolidate the state’s five health departments into one “mega-agency,” a move the commission says would make Texas’ health bureaucracy less fragmented and more efficient.

Gun control HB195: Removing the requirement that a person who may lawfully possess handguns obtain a Concealed Handgun License in order to carry a handgun lawfully in the state of Texas.


Fracking Bans HB 539: Relating to the procedural requirements for the adoption of a municipal regulation, limitation, or prohibition on the production, storage, or transportation of oil or natural gas; authorizing a fee.
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