Before the office: twelve years in the Texas Legislature
What they say
His campaign biography sums up his time in the Legislature in one sentence.
“Before becoming Attorney General, Paxton served in the Texas House and Senate, where he was consistently ranked among the most conservative lawmakers.”
What the record shows ·
The service half is exact. The Legislative Reference Library records him in House District 70 from January 14, 2003 to January 8, 2013, in the 78th, 79th, 80th, 81st and 82nd Legislatures, and in Senate District 8 from January 8, 2013 to January 13, 2015, in the 83rd, where a footnote records that he drew a two-year term in the January 23, 2013 drawing. What he did there is countable too: the library's bill search records 280 bills and resolutions with him as author across those six legislatures and their called sessions, 46 of which carry a last action recording that they took effect, and a further 37 he carried as the other chamber's sponsor, 25 of which took effect. The ranking half is not in any official record. It is an assessment by organisations outside the Legislature, and no Texas legislative source scores a member.
Limit: The label attaches to the half a record can settle: he served in both chambers, for the districts and across the years the sentence implies, and the legislative record of that service is substantial. The other half, that he was consistently ranked among the most conservative lawmakers, is a third-party rating and this desk checked no rating publication, so it is neither confirmed nor doubted here. Counts of authored bills are as the library records them and include resolutions; a bill that took effect is not necessarily one he carried alone.