2025 Legislative Session Dates
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Key Takeaways:

  • Currently, 46 states hold annual legislative sessions while only 4 states (Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, and Texas) meet biennially in odd-numbered years, meaning all 50 state legislatures are in session in 2025.
  • North Dakota is considering joining the annual session states via HB 1408, which would split their constitutionally limited 80-day biennial session into annual 40-day sessions beginning in 2028.
  • Legislative session frequency has followed a cyclical pattern in American history, starting with mostly annual sessions in the early 1800s, shifting to predominantly biennial sessions by 1900 (with 87% of states meeting biennially), and then returning to mostly annual sessions by today.
  • The trend toward annual sessions since the 1960s reflects modernization of state legislatures, with increased staff resources and the need to respond to faster-paced policymaking, suggesting the pendulum is unlikely to swing back toward biennial sessions.


As many of you know, nearly all state legislatures meet on an annual basis today. The four holdouts that meet biennially (only in odd years) are Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, and Texas. This being an odd year, we’re blessed with all 50 state legislatures in session in 2025. But next year, only 46 of the states will hold a regular legislative session. 

One of the holdouts — North Dakota — is currently debating whether to join the other 46 states and meet annually. The North Dakota House approved a measure (ND HB 1408) on a 64-26 vote that would require lawmakers in North Dakota to meet and pass a budget every year. Currently, the state constitution limits North Dakota lawmakers to 80 days of session over two years. The new bill would avoid a constitutional change by splitting the 80 days into a 40-day session each year. If enacted, the bill would go into effect in 2027, making 2028 the first even-numbered year session for North Dakota.


The history of annual and biannual legislative sessions in the states is quite cyclical. At the country's founding and through the early 1800s, nearly every state legislature met on an annual basis. Proponents argued that more members and frequent meetings enhanced the representative nature of the legislative bodies. But by 1900 there was a progressive pushback against corrupt state legislatures (this era also brought about direct democracy ballot measures in many states). While only 3 of the 24 states (12%) had biennial legislative sessions in 1832, that ratio had flipped by 1900 when 39 of the 45 state legislatures (87%) held biennial sessions. Proponents of biennials at the time argued that legislatures that met less often produced fewer laws, which when dealing with corrupt state legislatures, was a positive. By 1940, only 4 state legislatures met annually.

As state legislatures modernized in the 1960s, the biannual vs annual legislative session states shifted again. As state legislatures added resources such as staff and member salaries, responding to the fast pace of policymaking required more regular meetings of state lawmakers. In 1960, lawmakers in 19 states held annual legislative sessions. Today, 46 states do so. Oregon was the latest state to switch from a biannual to an annual legislative session after voters passed a ballot measure to do so in 2010. Two years earlier, voters had approved the same move in Arkansas. 

Biennial states that don’t meet in regular sessions every year are still meeting for “interim” (i.e., between regular sessions) committee hearings to keep up with policy trends. But at the pace of change today, we don't expect the pendulum to swing back toward biennial sessions anytime soon. 


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This article appeared in our Morning MultiState newsletter on March 25, 2025. For more timely insights like this, be sure to sign up for our Morning MultiState weekly morning tipsheet. We created Morning MultiState with state government affairs professionals in mind — sign up to receive the latest from our experts in your inbox every Tuesday morning. Click here to sign up.