Legal Research Process

Texas Register 

The first publication of the Texas Register was in 1976. It is compiled by the Texas Secretary of State and published weekly on Friday afternoons. It serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas.

The Texas Register includes:

• proposed, adopted,* and withdrawn rules;
• emergency rules;
• notices of state agency reviews of agency rules;
• Governor's proclamations, appointments, and executive orders (EO)
• summaries of requests for and opinions of the Attorney General; and
• other documents, such as requests for proposals and documentation of administrative enforcement of laws and regulations.

*Unlike the Federal Register, if there are no changes to a proposed rule, then the full text of the rule is not reprinted and one has to page back to notice of proposed rule.

Like the Fed. Reg., the Texas Register is a current awareness tool and, at the same time, a source of regulatory history. To keep current, you can look for the latest issue on a weekly basis for new ("Adopted Rules" section) and proposed regulations. Go to the site for Texas Register and click "Current Issue".

The Texas Register online can also offer a sneak peak of future content. Go to "Search the Texas Register" and, leaving all fields blank, click "Search."

Ex: when date is Wed., March 19, 2025, search results show upcoming content for future Fri., March 28, 2025 issue.

One can also use the old searchable database. This feature may be useful to preview proposed rules, adopted rules, and emergency rules prior to its print publication. 

Electronic Availability

• The Secretary of State is required to make the full text available to the public on their website.
  • The previous one year's issues are available to browse in PDF and html.
    • Go to the Secretary of State website and choose "Current Issue" 
  • The searchable database includes issues from February 2000 - Present. (Old site.) 
• Also available through the Secretary of State's Texas Administrative Code search. (Old site.) 
• University of North Texas maintains historical archive from 1976.
  • There appears to be a one-month delay in archiving most recent issues. 
• Lexis (login required)
  • Provides issues from January 3,1992 - Present 
• Westlaw (login required)  
  • Provides splits the issues into separate databases.
  • Texas Proposed & Adopted Regulations - Current provides issues from the past 2 year - Present.
  • Texas Administrative Register - Historical provides issues from October 3, 1989 - December 13, 2013.
  • Texas Proposed & Adopted Regulations - All provides selected coverage beginning on January 1, 2006. 
•  Bloomberg (login required)  
  • Provides some limited access from 2011 - Present 

N.B.: Double check currency when searching commercial databases.

Print Availability

The Texas Register is available in print at Tarlton on the 2nd floor. 

Ways to research regulations:

• Keyword search: You can use Search the Texas Register. Coverage from January 2000 - Present.
  • Keyword search is limited--it can seemingly only handle one word at a time. For this reason, old Texas Register site might be preferable, if still available.
  • There are a variety of ways to search for a particular rule, including the text of the rule, the agency the rule applies to, the date, etc. The system does not allow searching for rules and non-rules at the same time.
  • The search results are organized by date and show up 10 entries at a time--there is no other way to organize the search results. 
  • Be sure to click "next" to view all results. 
  • There is a lot of utility in using this feature because it links to the Texas Administrative Code. 
• Index: the Secretary of State provides annual indexes in PDF and html from 1997 - Present.
  • Indexes for the years 2008 - Present contain full lists of all the rules and non-rule entries published in the weekly issues for that year.
  • The "Index of Rules" for these years list every rule entry organized by the Titles in the Texas Administrative Code and indicate whether the rule was Proposed: (P), Adopted: (A), Withdrawn: (W), Emergency: (E). Ex: Index of Rules 
  • The "Index of Non-Rulemaking Notices" lists every non-rule entry from that year, organized by the agency and cites the page number of the Register where it can be found. Ex: Index of Non-Rulemaking Notices 
  • Indexes for the years 1997 - 2007 organize the information by agency and by TAC titles affected.
    • In the "Agency Guide", the agencies are listed in alphabetical order with a list of proposed, adopted and withdrawn regulations, organized by the Chapter in the Texas Administrative Code the regulations fell under. Non-rule entries are also listed in this section under their respective agencies.  Ex: Agency Guide 
    • In the "TAC Titles Affected" pages, the rules published during that year are organized by the Titles of the Texas Administrative Code, but do not state the responsible agency or whether the rule was proposed, adopted or withdrawn. Ex: TAC Titles Affected
  • The Indexes for the years 1997 - 2003 also include a list of all the Open Meetings held by each agency. Ex: Open Meetings 
  • The Indexes for the years 1997 - 1998 also include a list of all the Regional Meetings held by each agency. Ex: Regional Meetings 
• Portal to Texas History's Texas Register maintains a historical archive from 1975 - Present. 
  • You may use natural language searching or browse by year. 
• Browse: The current issue is available in PDF and HTML versions. 

As usual, both Lexis, Westlaw, and Bloomberg have the additional options of natural language and terms and connectors searching.

• Double check the coverage dates when using commercial databases, as they can change. 
• If searching Westlaw by citation, then be aware that the database will provide multiple entries for one proposed or adopted rule. I.e. Westlaw breaks away preamble from language of proposed or adopted rule into two entry results. 
• 

Lexis and Westlaw may be more familiar to the typical researcher, but in terms of currency, the free government sources are better. And unfortunately one cannot browse by issue in Lexis or Westlaw, which makes overlooking an emergency rule more likely than if using government's version, whether in print or online.

According to Texas Government Code § 2001.033: 

(a) A state agency may adopt an emergency rule without prior notice or hearing, or with an abbreviated notice and a hearing that it finds practicable, if the agency: 

(1) finds that an imminent peril to the public health, safety, or welfare, or a requirement of state or federal law requires adoption of a rule fewer than 30 days' notice; and 

(2) states in writing the reasons for its finding under subsection (1). 

(b) A state agency shall set forth in an emergency rule's preamble the finding required by Subsection (a). 

(c) A rule adopted under this section may be effective for not longer than 120 days and may be renewed once for not longer than 60 days. An identical rule may be adopted under Sections 2001.023 and 2001.029.

(d) A state agency shall file an emergency rule adopted under this section and the agency's written reasons for the adoption in the office of the secretary of state for publication in the Texas Register in the manner prescribed by Chapter 2002. 

Ways to research emergency rules: 

Emergency rules are an exception to informal rule making process

• Emergency Rules are not published in the Texas Administrative Code. Instead, you can find the text of emergency rules in the Texas Register. Additionally, emergency rules are typically not included in the Texas Administrative Code source notes below a section. 
• Ex:
• 

What happens when a rule is adopted while an emergency rule is in place?

It is up to the individual agency. Best practice would be for the emergency rule to be withdrawn once the adopted rule is in effect. However, many agencies either don’t realize they should do this, or choose not to do so. If not withdrawn, both the emergency rule and the adopted rule remain in place until the emergency rule expires; until that happens, the emergency rule supersedes the adopted rule.