A listing of publicly searchable databases produced by agencies of the State of Texas. From the Government Documents Round Table (GODORT) of the American Library Association.
Official website for State of Texas. Can order vital records, renew driver's license, and apply for or renew a professional license. Options include Find Services, Explore Texas, Resident, Business, Government, and Texas by Texas.
Nongovernment web site with links to legislative, judicial, and executive branch sites, as well as regional, county, and city pages. Well organized and updated frequently. Emphasis on official sites -- servers or content controlled by the government in question.
General information includes: Contacting your legislator, Texas bill status, State agency hotlines and citizen assistance, Legislative agencies and the legislative process in Texas, Other Libraries, and Public policy resources.
Scroll up to click on button to "More Social Media." Access to social media for Texas associations/organizations, higher education, judicial, local, and state entities. Over 360 links to browse or filter.
Full text of the Texas Constitution, current statutes, and bills from the 71st (1989) through the present legislatures. Also includes bill histories, Senate and House membership, committee membership, and legislative calendars. Search for your legislator's name and address by city, county, zip code, etc. The bills database is searchable by bill number, sponsor, or full text. The legislature meets every two years, convening in January during odd-numbered years.
Proposed and adopted Texas regulations as well as Open Meeting notices and other official announcements. Available in two formats: HTML and PDF. Archived issues (1976 to present) from the University of North Texas.
While not binding on the courts, AG opinions are regarded by Texas courts as highly persuasive and entitled to great weight. Click on "Index to Opinions" to link to full-text in PDF from 1939 to present.
From the Legislative Budget Board. To view archived editions, scroll down and click on "More State Budgets." Drop-down menu for "Select a Texas State Budget" has 1986-1987 to the present.
Summary of Legislative Budget Estimates
From the Legislative Budget Board's State Budget page. Click on the current link to "Budget Documents by Session." Available from the 76th Legislature (2000-2001) to the present. Select desired legislature. Path to Budget Estimates will vary by legislative session. For example, 2018-2019 House Summary of Legislative Budget Estimates is under the tab "LBB Recommended: House" and then the link to "Summaries." The 2018-2019 Senate Summary is under the tab "LLB Recommended: Senate." The 84th Legislature (2016-2017) links are under the tabs for "Introduced: House" and "Introduced Senate." The only link for the 79th Legislature (2006-2007) is under the tab for "Introduced: House." The only link for the 78th Legislature (2004-2005) is under the tab for "Introduced."
The Legislative Budget Board is a permanent committee of the Texas legislature which is "responsible for developing recommended legislative appropriations for all agencies of state government."
Information from the Texas Comptroller posted on Texas' official Open Data Portal. Brief overview of Key Economic Indicators also available directly from the Texas Comptroller.
For the State of Texas. Includes link to "Explore Revenue and Expenditure Dashboard" that explains viewing options in the visualization tool. For Expenditures on the dashboard, can search by expenditure category, agency, appropriation fund, or comptroller object. From the Comptroller.
Links to Texas tax rules by subject, Tax Code, tax forms, sales tax information, and publications. Also includes the State Tax Automated Research (STAR) System which provides "a comprehensive online tax policy research system." From the Comptroller.
From the Office of the Governor, Texas Economic Development. Seven basic steps for starting a business in Texas. Includes links to the Texas Startup Resource Directory and the Texas Business Licenses and Permits Guide. Option for Spanish language version.
Wealth of information. Topics include Incentives, Small Business, International, and Resources. Don't miss the mapping and demographics options in the Texas Site Search. The Reports and Publications page includes resources on the Texas Economy. From the Office of the Governor, Texas Economic Development.
Links to open datasets from Texas government agencies. Somewhat spotty content and time-consuming to navigate. Can browse by categories such as Agriculture, Education and Social Services, and Veteran. Can also search or use the catalog to filter over 3,000 resources by agency or type (such as calendar, forms, and maps). Includes data such as Texas Regional Economic Snapshots. Perhaps best results come from viewing the entire catalog and filtering by tags such as child protection, county, and databook. Good results for Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.
From the Texas State Comptroller. Has open data and also information. Options include: Search Datasets, Contracts, Comptroller's Databases, Other Agency Databases, Dashboards, Debt Lookup, Public Pension Search Tool, and Other Reports Available to Local Jurisdictions.
From the Texas State Comptroller. Search datasets by keyword or browse by topic. Topics are Expenditures, Procurement, Reference, Revenue, and Taxes and Fees. The Comptroller is in the process of transferring all their dataset files to Find all Comptroller data on Texas' official Open Data Portal.
Can compare current labor demand and supply for selected occupations to show an occupation shortage or overage by region. From the Texas Workforce Commission.
More than 110 databases of statistics information--much of it available at the national, state, county, and city levels. Categories include business and economics, community, education, energy and environment, government finance, health and socioeconomic, and population and demographics. WTAMU database only available to students, faculty, and staff.
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts' Transparency Stars program recognizes local governments that "provide clear and meaningful financial information not only by posting financial documents, but also through summaries, visualizations, downloadable data and other relevant information." Local governments must first submit an application to become a Star.
Organizing group for the 24 regional councils that coordinate services that cross local government boundaries. Services have included disaster recovery, regional 911 systems, and health services for vulnerable populations.
