AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- Texas lawmakers submitted over 1,500 bills as the filing period opened on Tuesday, setting a new record for the most number of bills filed on the first day.
Some staffers even camped out in the hallway behind the Senate chamber to secure their spot in line -- more of a symbolic move than a strategic one, as there is no real advantage to filing a bill early. Last year, fewer than 15% of bills filed became law — only 1,169 of the more than 8,000 filed.
“A lot of pent-up demand for legislation... certainly Republicans have been emboldened by the election results here in Texas,” publisher of Quorum Report and veteran Capitol analyst Harvey Kronberg said.
Some of the first bills filed this year targeted border security as Republicans look to bolster their immigration enforcement under a new Trump administration. Some of Tuesday's bills would restrict undocumented students from receiving in-state tuition, require proof of citizenship to register to vote, and allow Texas to negotiate with Mexico on border security.
Democrats filed bills addressing abortion and voting access, including a bill to create an exception for rape in the abortion ban and to allow electronic and same-day voter registration.
“Typically, what happens is, you've got a handful of members who want to claim ownership on a particular subject matter, and so they will rush in order to get a low bill number,” Kronberg said.
The marquee items, though, are still unclear. State leadership will prioritize school choice - a plan to use public money to subsidize private school tuition - another reduction in property taxes, and new border security efforts. Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to name each of those measures and more as an "emergency item," allowing lawmakers to work on them earlier than other bills.
“Right now, this is more poetry than prose,” Kronberg said.
