Bill Statistics by Session

Over the last twelve regular legislative sessions in Texas, from the 78th to the 89th, lawmakers have filed tens of thousands of bills and resolutions, yet only a small percentage of those ultimately become law. This data dashboard explores the trends in bill filing, passage, and vetoes across those sessions, highlighting chamber-specific dynamics and the overall productivity of the Texas Legislature.

Session-by-Session Comparison

*The chart above only includes House & Senate Bills. It does not include concurrent, joint, or simple resolutions.

Key Takeaways

Low Passage Rates Persist

Across all sessions analyzed, only a fraction of filed legislation passes both chambers and reaches the governor’s desk. In the most recent session (89th), just 13.9% of House and Senate bills were passed, marking one of the lowest success rates in over a decade.

This low passage rate reflects the increasingly aspirational nature of bill filing in the Texas Legislature. Lawmakers often file legislation to signal priorities to constituents or advocacy groups, knowing full well the bill may never receive a hearing. Additionally, legislative gridlock, committee bottlenecks, and leadership gatekeeping contribute to the attrition. The 13.9% pass rate in 2025 suggests that even with a large Republican majority, internal division and strategic power plays—especially in the House—can hinder productivity. For comparison, sessions from the mid-2010s regularly saw passage rates between 17% and 20%.

Senate Bills Are More Likely to Pass

In every session reviewed, Senate Bills (SBs) had a significantly higher pass rate than House Bills (HBs). For example, in the 89th session:

• 19.2% of SBs passed versus
• 11.0% of HBs

This disparity is fairly consistent across all twelve sessions, except for the 86th Legislative Session (2019), and suggests structural or procedural advantages for Senate-originated legislation.

This trend reveals key structural and procedural advantages in the Senate. With only 31 members compared to 150 in the House, the Senate can operate more efficiently, face fewer coordination challenges, and prioritize leadership-backed bills. Furthermore, Senate leadership (namely the Lieutenant Governor) exerts tight control over the flow of legislation, often advancing a clear policy agenda. In contrast, the House is often mired in intraparty conflict, and the decentralized power of the Speaker’s office can create more diffuse legislative priorities.

89th Session Shows a Filing Surge, But Less Output

The 89th Legislature saw the highest combined total of HB and SB filings in the last twelve sessions, 8,719 bills, yet it produced only 1,213 passed bills. This suggests an increase in legislative activity that did not translate to increased lawmaking.

This sharp disconnect between filings and outcomes reinforces the idea that bill filing has become more performative than functional for many lawmakers. With primary challenges, party scorecards, and advocacy group pressure looming, filing a bill, regardless of viability, has become a key tool for signaling allegiance. Yet the legislative machinery hasn’t grown more efficient. More bills entering the pipeline have not translated to more output, and in many cases may clog the system further. It also reflects that leadership (particularly in the House) is becoming more selective in advancing bills to the floor, leading to larger numbers of dead-on-arrival legislation.

Historical Productivity Has Declined

Earlier legislative sessions, such as the 86th Legislative Session (2019), had passage rates of nearly 20%, while recent sessions have trended closer to the 13–15% range. This could be due to increasing polarization, procedural bottlenecks, or strategic bill-filing practices.

The decline in overall legislative productivity may stem from a combination of institutional friction, partisan hardening, and changes in leadership style. While the number of filed bills has continued to climb, gatekeeping mechanisms, particularly by committee chairs and calendars committees, appear more pronounced. Additionally, with more political posturing and fewer bipartisan coalitions, especially in the House, consensus-building has become more difficult. This also suggests a growing reliance on “omnibus” bills or budget riders to accomplish major policy goals outside the standard bill process, sidestepping the traditional legislative route.

Veto Rates Remain Low

Despite the high volume of filings, gubernatorial vetoes remain rare. In the 89th session, only 28 bills were vetoed out of 8,719 filed, representing just 0.3% of total HB/SB filings.

Despite occasional publicized vetoes, the Governor’s veto pen is rarely used in volume. Most bills that make it through both chambers have already passed leadership and legal vetting, and the executive branch often coordinates behind the scenes to avoid embarrassing vetoes. This low number also underscores how much power is exercised earlier in the process, through committee decisions, procedural delays, and lack of referral, rather than through public rejection at the end of the process. When vetoes do occur, they are often symbolic or targeted at specific political messages, as seen in recent sessions when Governor Abbott vetoed bills over school choice inaction or intra-party conflicts.

Raw Data

89th through 78th Legislative Sessions – All Legislation

This table breaks down how many bills and resolutions were filed, passed, or vetoed per session, by chamber and type.

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