“It has to be related to the bill’s subject,” he said. As Blank explains, amendments can’t just be attached to any bill. If the bill passes and goes on to be signed into law then, well, it’s alive.īut it’s tough to raise a dead bill. Lawmakers can try to bring their legislation to life by adding the text of their dead bill as an amendment to a living bill. Let’s say a bill reaches the House or Senate. Most likely, it will be done by amending the bill when it comes up for a vote. But lawmakers can still attach their legislation – or parts of it – to another, living bill, either through a committee substitute – basically a committee from the opposite chamber’s take on a bill – or a final-hour compromise in a conference committee, where House and Senate members meet to hash out their differences on a particular measure. FrankenbillsĪt a certain point in the session, lawmakers can’t introduce any more bills. “While some bills have died, that doesn’t mean that their content necessarily has died,” he said.

Like zombies, they might just come back a little different. Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University, said even the deadest of bills have a chance to be reanimated. “There’s always a way to revive a bill,” he said. You could even call it … the Night of the Living Lege.

Many do successfully perform some end of session necromancy, said the Texas Politics Project’s Joshua Blank. Lawmakers are going to have to get creative – and lucky – if they want to see their dead legislative priorities to the finish line. Lawmakers introduced about 10,000 bills and resolutions during the current session alone, and only about a third will become law. More bills die than live during any given session. They’re coming to legislate you, Barbara.Īs the legislative session comes to a close, state lawmakers are trying everything to get their bills past the finish line, including raising the dead.

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