Robert E. Johnson, Sr., Legislative Office Building, 2nd Floor
1501 North Congress Avenue
P.O. Box 12128
Austin, Texas 78711-2128
(512) 463-1143

The legal division of the Texas Legislative Council provides nonpartisan legal services for all members of the Texas Legislature and the lieutenant governor. The primary service provided by the legal division consists of drafting legislative and other legal documents, including bills, joint resolutions, floor and committee amendments and substitutes, conference committee reports, legal memoranda, and requests for attorney general opinions. The legal division also is responsible for the statutory revision program. Recent codifications of Texas law prepared by the legal division and submitted to the legislature for enactment include portions of the Estates and Special District Local Laws Codes. The legal division is preparing the final chapters of the Estates Code and additional Special District Local Laws Code chapters for submission to the 82nd Legislature during the regular session. Legislative materials produced by the legal division include the following:

• Texas Legislative Council Drafting Manual—A compilation of legislative drafting guidelines covering such topics as bill format and content requirements, germaneness, citations, and style and usage.
• Memorandum on Local and Bracket Bills—A discussion of the requirements relating to publication of notice of intent to introduce a local or special bill and standards governing consideration of bills that are limited to a particular class of political subdivisions or geographic areas through use of population or another classification device.
• State and Federal Law Governing Redistricting in Texas—A general overview of major legal issues involved in redistricting in Texas.
• Texas Constitution—An update prepared following each election on proposed constitutional amendments to incorporate all changes approved by the voters.

The publications can be obtained from the council’s House Document Distribution office and appear online at the TLC website.