This week allowed lawmakers to file bills for the 2025 legislative session, which begins in January.

By Tuesday, lawmakers had filed more than 1,500 billsand these will continue to flow in until the March 14 deadline. Far more bills are introduced than were passed by both chambers – last session, only about 15% of bills passed.

Bills have already been introduced regarding abortion bans, border security, school funding and the minimum wage.

Blaise Gaineywho covers state politics for The Texas Newsroom, said lawmakers often file bills early because they’ve had a lot of ideas in their free time.

“There may be some pent-up energy. Remember, they only meet once every two years. And so, they probably have a lot of ideas for bills that they want to pass and they’re finishing them up and getting them ready to go on day one,” Gainey said. “Others may be more complicated, so they may just take longer.”

Sherri Greenberg, a former Texas House representative who now teaches at UT-Austin’s LBJ School of Public Affairs, said lawmakers might also seek press attention for the filler on day one.

“They may want to show their constituents and others that this is a high priority for them,” she said. “They may think they are going to be heard earlier in the session, which is not true.”

Gainey said that despite the enthusiasm, there’s really no chance most of the bills will pass.

“Lawmakers only meet for 140 days every two years, which means this year they will have from January 14 to June 2 to pass legislation until they meet again in 2027,” a- he declared. “So they will still file a lot of bills, but very few will make it across the finish line. For example, last session, 8,000 bills were introduced and only about 1,200 of them ended up being signed by Gov. Greg Abbott.

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Greenberg said that was intentional.

“The whole process is designed to kill bills, not pass them,” she said. “Visualize the Summer Olympics with people running the hurdles. And it’s just one obstacle after another to overcome. That’s what it’s like to try to pass a bill.

Gainey said House Speaker Dade Phelan reserved House Bills 1 through 154 for priority legislation and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick reserved Senate Bills 1 through 40 for the same reason.

Gainey said there are already emerging trends as to which issues will be high-profile in this session, chief among them Abbott’s renewed push pass a school voucher plan.

“I think with President Trump taking office, the focus will be on the border and immigration. And that’s something we’re seeing so far. This was a major issue in the Legislature last year when Gov. Greg Abbott designated securing the border as an emergency item for lawmakers,” Gainey said.

“So far, bills have been introduced that will allow the state to perform rapid DNA testing on people who crossed the border and were arrested and are suspected of lying about their family ties , and another concerns the construction of a wall.

However, Gainey said the expected voucher bill has not yet been filed.

“There was one filed yesterday, but it was filed by someone who voted ‘no’ on bonds last year,” he said. “My guess is that it’s probably not the bill that people are waiting for and they’ll be looking for something that gets filed in those early bill numbers because that’s going to be what gets marked as priority legislation.”

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