Since 1837, Texas law has required the Secretary of State to contract for the printing of laws, and to arrange for their distribution. Since 1846, Texas law has required the Secretary of State to receive bills from the Texas Legislature which have become laws, and to bind and maintain such bills and enrolled joint resolutions; and also to deliver a certified copy of these laws (with indices) to the public printer. These records are the official, final, signed copies of legislative bills and resolutions (general and special laws) passed by the Congress of the Republic of Texas and the Legislature of the State of Texas, and subsequently filed with the Texas Secretary of State. These contain the original signatures of all officials (President of the Senate, Speaker of the House, Chief Clerk of the House, Secretary of the Senate, and Texas President/Governor). They date 1836-2007. The earlier volumes (1836-1911) are handwritten fair copies, replaced by typewritten copies in 1913. Also included (as they became required by law) are fiscal notes, criminal justice policy impact statements, actuarial impact statements, and other kinds of impact statements. These impact statements are excluded from the bound volumes beginning with the 77th Legislature (2001); but they can be found in the original bill files (currently located in the Legislative Reference Library). Included at or near the end of each session's laws and resolutions are the vetoed bills and resolutions. Vetoed bills and resolutions include the signed proclamation by the Governor explaining the veto. As early as 1923, indexes of the bills, arranged by bill number (e.g. House Bill 1, Senate Bill 99) were inserted loosely into some volumes; by 1939 these indexes were bound into the front of each volume. Legislative bills and resolutions filed (general and special laws) are created as the official copy of the bills and resolutions passed into law by the Congress/Legislature, and signed (or vetoed) by the Governor. They are essentially the manuscript copies of what is subsequently published (and certified by the Secretary of State) as the "General and Special Laws" of Texas (a.k.a. Session Laws). Note: A researcher can find the chapter number in the published version of the laws (beginning with the 2nd Legislature in 1847), which have subject indexes. If the researcher knows the bill number but does not know the chapter, then any volume in the session (beginning in 1939) will have an index leading from the bill number to the volume, chapter, and page. In the 2007 volumes, however, this is a table of contents rather than an index, with the contents listed in chapter order rather than in bill number order.
