Texas House suspends some posting rules, authorizes committee meetings and adopts multiple ceremonial resolutions; clerk reads and refers dozens of bills

The Texas House of Representatives met in Austin on March 27, 2025, and the presiding officer announced there was no calendar for bills for the day. Members instead approved procedural motions allowing committee work to continue, suspended a notice requirement to set a March 31 hearing on HB 3305, adopted a series of honorary and memorial resolutions and the clerk read a long list of bills for first reading and referral to committees.

Why it matters: With no bills on the floor calendar, the House used procedural motions to keep committee business moving and to set a committee hearing on HB 3305 (a measure described on the floor as relating to continuation of health care provider participation programs in certain counties). Those steps determine whether and when bills will be considered in committee and ultimately affect the legislative timeline.

Representative Harrison pressed the presiding officer with a parliamentary inquiry, asking, “are we taking up and considering any bill today on any topic?” The presiding officer replied, “there is no calendar for today,” leaving substantive bill debate off the floor for the day.

Representative Garren moved — and the House adopted without objection — a motion to defer the remainder of the reading and referral of bills until the end of the day’s business. Later in the session the clerk nonetheless read a long list of bills and resolutions for first reading and referral to committee (see “Clerk read and referred” below for details).

Representative Giovanna Capriglione moved that “the House grant permission for all committees and subcommittees to meet while the House is in session pursuant to their committee postings or recess motions.” The motion was adopted without objection, authorizing committees to convene even though the full House was not taking up bills on the floor.

Representative Spiller moved to suspend the five‑day posting rule to permit the House Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, Subcommittee on County and Regional Government to hold a public hearing at 10:00 a.m. Monday, March 31, 2025, in Room E2.028 to consider HB 3305 by Richardson, described on the floor as relating to the continuation of health care provider participation programs in certain counties. The House adopted that suspension without objection, allowing the hearing to proceed on the stated date and time.

The chamber also took up a number of ceremonial and memorial resolutions. Representative Dutton asked the House to suspend the rules to take up HR 677, a memorial resolution honoring former heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman. Dutton delivered a personal remembrance on the floor and urged support; the resolution was adopted unanimously. Other members likewise moved and the House adopted a sequence of recognitions and honorary resolutions during the session (examples include recognitions for musician Lyle Lovett, Texas State University, CASA Day at the Capitol, and local school athletic teams).

At the end of the day Representative Reynolds moved that the House adjourn pending the reading of referral bills until 9:00 a.m. Friday; the motion carried without objection and the House stood adjourned pending that reading.

Clerk read and referred: Following procedural business the clerk read a multi‑page list of bills and resolutions for first reading and referred them to the committees listed. The list includes dozens of measures (representative entries read on the floor include HB 3851, HB 3852, HB 3853, HB 3854, HB 3855, HB 3856, HB 3857 and many more through multiple subject areas such as public education, public health, environmental regulation, elections, taxation, pensions and transportation). Each listed bill was placed on first reading and referred to the committee named during the clerk’s reading (full list available in the official House transcript and journal).

Votes at a glance

- Motion to defer remainder of reading/referral (mover: Representative Garren) — adopted (no objection). - Motion to permit committees/subcommittees to meet while House is in session (mover: Representative Capriglione) — adopted (no objection). - Motion to suspend five‑day posting rule to set HB 3305 hearing (mover: Representative Spiller) — adopted (no objection). Hearing set for 03/31/2025, 10:00 a.m., Room E2.028. - HR 677 (memorial for George Foreman) (mover: Representative Dutton) — adopted unanimously. - Multiple other honorary/resolution motions (movers included Representatives Harless, Morgan, McLaughlin, Luhan, Weiner/Wiener and others) — each adopted without objection as read on the floor. - Motion to adjourn pending reading of referral bills until 9:00 a.m. Friday (mover: Representative Reynolds) — adopted (no objection).

What the motions did not do: The House did not take up substantive bill debate on the floor during this session; no roll‑call votes on substantive bills were recorded. The procedural steps taken instead affect committee scheduling and the referral process that precedes committee consideration.

Sources and evidence: The facts above are drawn from the House proceedings on March 27, 2025, including parliamentary inquiries, adopted motions to suspend rules and to permit committee meetings, the adoption of memorial and recognition resolutions and the clerk’s reading of bills for first reading and referral (official transcript excerpts cited below).