Between sessions, a Texas lobbyist works the processes that decide what the next session does: interim committee hearings, agency rulemaking, budget requests, sunset reviews, and the slow relationship work that bill fights run on. The Texas Legislature meets just 140 days every two years — but the agenda for those 140 days is written in the other 19 months.
We're in that window right now. The 89th Legislature adjourned in June 2025, and the 90th convenes January 12, 2027. If your organization's lobbyist has gone quiet, this post is a checklist of what you should be paying for instead.
Interim charges: the next session's table of contents
After each session, the Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker issue interim charges — formal study assignments to Senate and House committees. This cycle's charges landed in early 2026, covering everything from property taxes to grid capacity to data centers, and committees spend the year holding hearings and drafting reports due before the Legislature convenes.
Those reports become bills. The recommendations in an interim report are the closest thing Texas has to a published agenda for the next session. A lobbyist working the interim is tracking the charges that touch your issues, getting your perspective into the hearing record, and shaping recommendations while they're still drafts — when changing a sentence takes a conversation, not a floor fight.
Agency rulemaking: where most policy actually happens
Bills get the headlines; rules govern your Tuesday. State agencies write and amend rules year-round through the Texas Register process, and the interim is their busy season. For most businesses, an agency rule — a licensing standard, a procurement preference, a rate methodology — has more day-to-day impact than any statute.
Interim lobbying here means monitoring proposed rules, filing comments that actually engage the draft language, and working with agency staff before positions harden. It's unglamorous and it's where a disproportionate share of client value lives.
The budget starts now, not in January
Texas writes a two-year budget, and the process begins in the summer of even-numbered years, when agencies submit Legislative Appropriations Requests to the Legislative Budget Board. By the time the appropriations bill is filed in January 2027, agencies will have spent months locking in their asks — and the items that didn't make an agency's LAR start the session needing a much heavier lift.
If your issue touches state spending — a program, a rider, an exceptional item — the interim is when it gets positioned. Generally speaking, a budget request that first appears in February is a request that waited too long.
Sunset review: existential stakes on a schedule
Texas abolishes agencies by default unless the Legislature affirmatively continues them, on a rolling twelve-year schedule run by the Sunset Advisory Commission. The current review cycle ahead of the 2027 session includes some of the state's largest agencies — the Health and Human Services Commission, the Texas Workforce Commission, and the Department of Family and Protective Services among them.
If your organization is regulated by, funded through, or contracted with an agency under sunset review, the review is your issue whether you chose it or not. Sunset recommendations routinely rewrite agency authority, and the sunset bill is one of the few must-pass vehicles in any session. Interim work here means engaging the staff review, the public input process, and the commission hearings — all of which happen before the session starts.
The quiet work: relationships, elections, and prefiling
The rest of the interim job is less procedural but no less real:
- Relationship maintenance. Members and staff have time in the interim that they will not have in March. The meeting that takes three weeks to schedule in session takes three days in the interim.
- Election awareness. Even-numbered years are election years, and the membership that convenes in January is never quite the membership that adjourned. Good lobbyists track races to know who'll be in the room — committee assignments and chamber dynamics shift with each cycle. (And keep in mind: campaign work and lobbying are separate professions with separate rules — what a lobbyist tracks is the roster, not the outcome.)
- Bill development and prefiling. Bill prefiling for the 90th session opens November 9, 2026. The bills filed that week weren't written that week. Language your lobbyist develops with a member's office in the summer and fall is positioned for early filing, early referral, and early hearings — and in a 140-day session, early is everything.
What this means for your engagement
Two practical takeaways.
First, evaluate your lobbyist on interim output. During session you'll see hearings and votes; in the interim you should see comment filings, hearing summaries, LAR intelligence, and a written plan for the next session. Silence from June to December is not "nothing happening" — it's nothing being done.
Second, if you're considering hiring, the interim is the smart entry point. Representation costs less in interim years, the calendar is friendlier to relationship-building, and you arrive at the session with positioning instead of introductions. It's also the right moment to settle the structural question — contract lobbyist, in-house staff, or both — before session-year pricing and urgency take over.
Iceberg provides government relations and lobbying at the Texas Capitol, with the interim treated as the working season it actually is. Book your free consultation and we'll map what this interim should be producing for your issues before January 2027.
Frequently asked questions
How often does the Texas Legislature meet?
In regular session, 140 days every two years — convening the second Tuesday of January in odd-numbered years and adjourning around Memorial Day. The 89th Legislature met January through June 2025 (plus two called special sessions that summer); the 90th convenes January 12, 2027. The Governor can call 30-day special sessions at any time on topics the Governor designates.
What are interim charges in Texas?
Formal study assignments the Lieutenant Governor and Speaker issue to Senate and House committees between sessions. Committees hold hearings on their charges through the even-numbered year and publish reports with recommendations before the next session convenes. Those recommendations are the most reliable preview of the next session's legislative agenda, which makes interim hearings a primary working venue for lobbyists.
Do lobbyists work during election years?
Yes — the interim falls across the election year, and it's a working season. Interim committee hearings, agency rulemaking, appropriations requests, and sunset reviews all run through even-numbered years. Lobbyists also track election results because the Legislature that convenes in January will have new members, new committee compositions, and shifted dynamics. Lobbying and campaign work remain separate activities under separate rules.
Is it cheaper to hire a lobbyist during the interim?
Often, yes. Many Texas lobbyists price interim years below session years, and some offer lower entry retainers for engagements that begin in the interim and run into session. More important than the discount: an engagement that starts in the interim arrives at the session with the groundwork already laid — positioned language, established relationships, and intelligence on the relevant interim reports.
What is sunset review in Texas?
A scheduled process under which most Texas state agencies are abolished by default unless the Legislature passes a bill continuing them, typically every twelve years. The Sunset Advisory Commission reviews each agency's performance, takes public input, and recommends changes — and those recommendations become a must-pass bill in the following session. For any organization regulated by an agency under review, sunset is among the highest-stakes processes in Texas government.
Iceberg Public Affairs provides government relations, lobbying, and procurement advisory for organizations navigating Texas government. Book your free consultation.