Nominate the Legislator Who Did the Most in the 81st Session to Fleece the People of Texax

Important Dates for Texas 81st Legislative Session

By Martha Estes - May 26, 2009

Wednesday, May 27, 2009 (135th day)
Last day for house to consider local and consent senate bills on second reading or any senate bills or joint resolutions on third reading
[House Rule 8, Sec. 13(c)]

Last day for senate to consider any bills or joint resolutions on third reading
[Senate Rule 7.25]

Thursday, May 28, 2009 (136th day)
Midnight deadline for house to print and distribute senate amendments
[relates to House Rule 13, Sec. 5(a), requiring 24-hour layout of senate amendments prior to consideration]

Friday, May 29, 2009 (137th day)
Last day for house to consider senate amendments
[House Rule 8, Sec. 13(d)]

Midnight deadline for senate to print and distribute senate copies of conference committee reports on tax, general appropriations, and reapportionment bills
[relates to Senate Rule 12.09(a), requiring 48-hour layout of certain conference committee reports in regular session]

Last day for senate committees to report all bills
[relates to Senate Rule 7.24(b), but note that the 135th day (two days earlier) is the last day for third reading in the senate; practical deadline for senate committees is before the 135th day]

Saturday, May 30, 2009 (138th day)
Midnight deadline for house to print and distribute house copies of all conference committee reports
[relates to House Rule 13, Sec. 10(a), requiring 24-hour layout of all conference committee reports]

Midnight deadline for senate to print and distribute all conference committee reports on bills other than tax, general appropriations, and reapportionment bills and all house amendments to Senate bills that did not go to a conference committee
[relates to Senate Rule 12.09(b) and Senate Rule 7.21, requiring 24-hour layout of certain conference committee reports and house amendments to senate bills during the last 72 hours of a regular session]

NOTE: Date extended until midnight Sunday, May 31, 2009


Sunday, May 31, 2009 (139th day)
Last day for house to adopt conference committee reports
[House Rule 8, Sec. 13(e)]

Last day for senate to concur in house amendments or adopt conference committee reports
[relates to Senate Rule 7.25, limiting a vote on the passage of any bill during the last 24 hours of the session to correct an error in the bill]

Monday, June 1, 2009 (140th day)
Last day of 81st Regular Session; corrections only
in house and senate
[Sec. 24(b), Art. III, TexasConstitution]

Session Ends

Sunday, June 21, 2009 (20th day following final adjournment)
Last day governor can sign or veto bills passed during the
regular legislative session
[Sec. 14, Art. IV, Texas Constitution]

Monday, August 31, 2009 (91st day following final adjournment)
Date that bills without specific effective dates (that could not
be effective immediately) become law
[Sec. 39, Art. III, Texas Constitution]


Saturday, May 31, 2008

Court Upholds Key Provision of the Voting Rights Act

By NEIL A. LEWIS - The New York Times - May 31, 2008
WASHINGTON — A special three-judge court ruled Friday that Congress acted constitutionally when it extended the law requiring sections of the country with a history of racial discrimination to get federal approval for any changes in voting procedures.

The unanimous decision upheld a central provision of the Voting Rights Act, which Congress initially passed in 1965 and has extended several times since, most recently for 25 years in 2006. Section 5 of the law prohibits several states, mostly in the South, and some local government agencies from changing their election practices without permission from the Justice Department or the courts.

Each renewal of the law has been followed by a legal challenge from some state or local agency to this “preclearance” requirement. The latest challenge was undertaken by the board of a public utility near Austin, Tex., which said the requirement conferred a “badge of shame” over “conditions that existed 30 or more years ago but have long since been remedied.”

The Northwest Austin Utility District argued that Congress lacked sufficient evidence of racial discrimination to justify the intrusion on state sovereignty.

Judge David S. Tatel, who wrote Friday’s decision, agreed with the Justice Department, however, that Congress was appropriately concerned about discrimination against minority voters. The law was extended, Judge Tatel said, only after substantial Congressional findings that “attempts to discriminate persist and evolve.” He noted that from 1980 to 2000, the attorney general acted to block 421 voting changes that the Justice Department had found “intentionally discriminatory.”

The law initially applied only to the states of the Confederacy and was intended to address schemes like poll taxes, which, dating from Reconstruction, were devised by local officials to discourage black voter participation. But its requirements have since been expanded to some parts of New York, Michigan and California, where the concern is about the rights of ethnic groups other than African-Americans.

Judge Tatel, of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, was joined in Friday’s decision by Paul L. Friedman and Emmet G. Sullivan, both federal district judges in Washington. Under the Voting Rights Act, their ruling may be appealed directly to the Supreme Court. Such an appeal is considered likely.

Bills Passed into Law by the 80th Legislature

Can be found through the links on the sidebar under "80th Texas Legislature (2007) - Bills Passed by Legislature".

The sidebar contains links for:
House Bills Passed and Signed into Law by Gov. Perry
Senate Bills Passed and Signed into Law by Gov. Perry
Bills Passed by Legislature and Passed into law WITHOUT Governor's Signature
Bills Passed by Legislature but vetoed by Gov. Perry
Line Item Veto exercised by Gov. Perry


Bill Becomes Law - Governor"s Action

Except in the case of a bill sent to the governor within 10 days of final adjournment, upon receiving a bill, the governor has 10 days in which to sign the bill, veto it, or allow it to become law without a signature.

If the governor elects to veto the bill and the legislature is still in session, the bill is returned to the chamber in which it originated with an explanation of the governor’s objections.

A two-thirds majority in each chamber is required to override the veto. If the governor neither vetoes nor signs the bill within the allotted time, the bill becomes a law.

When a bill is sent to the governor within 10 days of final adjournment, the governor has until 20 days after final adjournment to sign the bill, veto it, or allow it to become law without a signature. Read more about How a Bill Becomes Law