AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ The Texas House adjourned shortly after a midnight deadline, leaving thousands of bills to wither away in the final stretch of the legislative session.
Lawmakers playfully acknowledged the expiration of almost 4,000 bills by playing Taps, the military bugle call.
Several lawmakers marked the passing with an impromptu “memorial service.”
Bill authors stood in a receiving line at the front of the chamber, dabbing at their eyes with tissue and sympathetically hugging each other over the loss of their legislation.
When the clock struck midnight, House legislation that hasn’t been adopted expired in its present form.
Unless they can be revived in another format, bills that die will most likely have to wait two more years for another chance to become law.