The Legislative Process
The legislative process at the federal and state level in the United States follow very similar paths. In a nutshell, the legislative process takes a policy need from an idea to a bill to a law.
Below is an infographic and other resources that generally outline the legislative process in the U.S. On this page, you will find resources for locating and tracking legislation in the U.S. and the State of Texas.
State bills
- Texas Legislature OnlineUse the keyword search to find Texas state bills by topic.
- TX Leg - Follow the status of a bill instructionsBasic steps involved in passing a bill into law. Links to information available on the Texas Legislature Online are provided to aid in following these steps.
- LegiScan: Texas 88th Legislative Session (2023)This link provides a list of all legislation filed in the Texas 88th legislative session. The list includes the latest bill actions.
LegiScan is keyword searchable. - National Conference of State LegislaturesNational Conference of State Legislatures policy research and legislation database.
- Nexis UniSearch for statutes and legislation at the state or the federal level.
- Legislative Reference Library of TexasAn independent agency of the Legislature that performs research for Texas legislators, their staff, and legislative committees. The library also assists the public and other state agencies with legislative research.
- Texas Tribune Analysis of the 88th Texas Legislative SessionThe Texas Tribune is a member-supported publication covering public policy, politics, and government state-wide.
Federal bills and policy reports
- Congress.govUse the keyword search to find federal bills by topic.
- Congressional Research Service ReportsSearch CRS by topic to find reports from 2018 and forward on major policy issues. Reports include research and analysis to support Congress' legislative, oversight, and representational duties. All reports adhere to the core values of CRS; they are authoritative, objective and nonpartisan. Reports range in length from several pages to more than one-hundred pages and cover the full breadth of topics of interest to Congress.
- Congressional Research Service Reports via the UNT Digital LibraryCRS does not provide direct public access to its reports published prior to 2018. This site is not affiliated with the Congressional Research Service, but aims to provide integrated, searchable access to many of the full-text CRS reports that have been available at a variety of different web sites since 1990. The information on this site is compiled and made available as a public service by the Government Documents Department at the UNT Libraries.
- ProQuest CongressionalProQuest Congressional Includes information on bills, laws, regulations, Congressional publications, current and previous Members of Congress, campaign finance information, financial disclosures, voting records, and committee membership. Also includes the full text of some Congressional reports, documents, and testimonies. Dates of Coverage: 1789 - present
- GovInfo.govGovInfo provides free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.
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