March 12, 2011, Courtesy of Jason Smith of Smith Capitol Strategies:

Today alone (bill filing deadline), members of the Texas House filed 550 bills, while the Texas Senate filed 301 bills.

This session (82nd), there were 3802 bills filed prior to the deadline (3/11/2011)  in the House and 1874 filed in the Senate.

During the last session (81st), there were 4697 filed prior to the deadline (3/13/2009) in the House and 2447 filed in the Senate.

Two sessions ago (80th), there were 3977 bills filed prior to the deadline (3/09/2007)  in the House and 1944 filed in the Senate.

Three sessions ago (79th), there were 3474 bills filed prior to the deadline (3/11/2005) in the House and 1789 filed in the Senate.

78th Session, 3550 in the House by 3/14/2003, 1859 in the Senate.

77th Session, 3624 in the House by 3/14/2001, 1754 in the Senate.

Its not that there are so many fewer bills filed this session, its that the sharp increase in the number of bills filed last session was an anomaly.

*These #’s do not include Joint Resolutions (JR’s)