Sine Die Report on Priority Bills in the 89th Texas Legislative Session

Educate: We educated Texas Catholics on issues at the Capitol via our weekly newsletter, the Texas Catholic Voice (TCV). This online publication educates readers on priority bills, includes the TCCB’s summary, and offers ways for them to contact their legislator. Our website received 57,036 views during the legislative session from January to June.

On Advocacy Day, we hosted 1,100 students from across Texas. Our education department provided lesson guidance to Catholic schools in preparation for mock hearings. We closed the impactful day with student meetings with their senators and representatives and a large rally on the steps of the Texas Capitol.

Thanks to the advocates’ enthusiastic support, the Advocacy Day priority bill passage rate was 59%. This percentage in-part reflects the successful passage of landmark parental choice legislation and housing affordability bills that will impact generations of Texans to come.  

Mobilize: This session Texas Catholic took seriously the late Pope Francis’ words: “A good Catholic meddles in politics, offering the best of himself—so that those who govern can govern.” This was shown in a series of Action Alerts sent out to our network of more than 5,500 constituents, requesting their help to urgently advocate for a critical bill. Further, approximately 3,500 Catholics attended our Advocacy Day which included a spirited rally with the bishops of Texas and many of our legislators.  

Advocate: During the 89th legislative session 9,082 bills were filed yet only 1,231 bills passed the legislature (13% passed and the failure rate of 87%).

This is significantly lower than last session, when 16% of the bills passed. However, Governor Abbott’s veto period ended on June 22, and during this period the Governor vetoed two of our supported bills, (HB 353 and SB 1278).

This session we tracked 1,403 bills in total. Each tracked bill included an analysis statement written by a TCCB staff member. We took a publicly supportive position on 380 bills. We testified in support of 47 bills in committee hearings throughout the session. Fourteen of the 47 bills that we testified in a committee hearing passed, while 10 of the bills we testified in opposition failed.

The total success rate of bills on which the TCCB testified is 55%. This figure only includes bills that received oral or written testimony. For many other bills we publicly registered our position for the committee to consider. Of the total 380 bills that the bishops supported, 64 passed, while only one bill we publicly opposed passed the legislature. One of the bills we opposed died on the Senate Intent Calendar.  

Below is the total report of the wins and losses of this session. Wins include the passage of supported bills and opposed bills’ failure to pass. Progress is counted if a supported bill passed through its original chamber of legislature but fell short of final passage in both chambers. Losses include the passage of an opposed bill, the failure of a supported bill to pass, or the lack of significant progress towards passage.