Texas Legislative Council

The research division provides professional, nonpartisan research, drafting, mapping, and redistricting services for the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house of representatives, legislative committees, and all legislators. Specific services include congratulatory, memorial, and policy resolution drafting; bill analysis and bill version side-by-side comparison drafting; policy issue research; statistical research; data gathering and preparation; map production and geographic analysis; publication preparation; and redistricting information and support.

Administration

The administration section is responsible for strategic operations and planning and the direction of the division. Section staff also design and maintain Internet and legislative intranet websites, including the council's Internet site; the Guide to Texas Legislative Council Services; Capweb; the Guide to Texas Legislative Information; Texas Redistricting; Legislative Research on the Web; and Data, Maps, and Reports.

Policy issue research

During a legislative session, the staff of this section review bill analyses drafted by the bill analysis section, draft side-by-side comparisons of the senate, house, and conference committee versions of bills and joint resolutions, and handle research requests.

The section produces several presession and postsession publications, including the Summary of Enactments; New, Renamed, and Abolished State Governmental Entities; the Guide to Texas Legislative Information; and Analyses of Proposed Constitutional Amendments.

In support of interim activities, the section responds to legislator and committee requests for research, including background material for interim charges; surveys of other states' practices, laws, and legislation; searches and inventories of Texas statutes; and legislative history searches.

Bill analysis (session only)

During a legislative session, the staff of this section draft, on request, analyses of bills and joint resolutions placed on the agenda for a committee hearing and bills and joint resolutions reported out of committee. The section also assists in preparing side-by-side comparisons of the senate, house, and conference committee versions of bills and joint resolutions.

Mapping and redistricting

The staff of this section use geographic information system technology to correlate education, criminal justice, socioeconomic, or other data with geographic areas (e.g., tax rate by school district) for research and analysis and to produce maps relating to policy issues of interest to the legislature (e.g., hospitals and hospital districts or four-year college and university campus locations).

To support the legislature’s redistricting activities, the section works with information systems staff to build and maintain election, census, and geographic databases and mapping and redistricting computer systems. The staff of the section produce maps and reports showing population and election information for proposed and enacted redistricting plans, as well as informational publications on redistricting, and prepare information for the Texas Redistricting website.

During a non-redistricting legislative session, the staff of the section also assist in preparing side-by-side comparisons of the senate, house, and conference committee versions of bills and joint resolutions.

Statistical research

In response to requests from legislators and committees, the staff of this section compile and analyze data; prepare statistical estimates and projections from data; evaluate methodologies and conclusions in statistical studies conducted by others; advise on the use and interpretation of statistics or how to formulate a design to answer a research question; and conduct statistical surveys and analyze results. In addition, the section maintains a website that contains data, maps, and reports related to interim charges and other topics of interest to the legislature.

During a legislative session, the staff of the section also assist in handling policy issue research requests and in preparing side-by-side comparisons of the senate, house, and conference committee versions of bills and joint resolutions.

Since 2001, the council's statistical research staff have been providing assistance to state agencies in designing or conducting statistical studies mandated by the legislature. This assistance helps to ensure that the legislature gets the information it needs and reduces the need for agencies to hire outside consultants.

Resolutions and publications

The staff of this section draft congratulatory, memorial, and legislative policy resolutions. The section also produces or coordinates the production of a number of research division and council publications, including the Texas Legislative Manual, the Guide to Texas Legislative Council Services, and the Procedures Manual for Joint Committees. Two historical publications—Presiding Officers of the Texas Legislature and The Texas Capitol: A History of the Lone Star Statehouse—are products of this section.