The legislature finds that the use of title-only bills represents a clear circumvention of the legislative process and must be prohibited. The introduction of empty pieces of legislation as placeholders, with substantive content to be filled in later, does not promote legislative transparency or foster public trust. The legislature finds title-only bills have been used as last-minute vehicles to advance major policy changes with little-to-no notice to the public or even to the legislators elected to vote on them. Whether intentional or not, such tactics disregard the constitutional restrictions meant to ensure adequate public notice and understanding of legislative action.
The legislature therefore intends to prohibit the use of title-only bills.
This section adds a new section to an existing chapter 44.04. Here is the modified chapter for context.
The introduction of title-only bills is prohibited. For purposes of this section, a title-only bill is a legislative bill that does not create new statutory language in addition to the title of the bill or lay forth the full changes to any act or sections of law intended by the bill.