The Fall is a slower season for legislative news, which is mainly determined by when individual states have their legislative sessions. In this Legislative News blog, we will provide an overview of how states organize their legislative sessions.
Only 10 states have full-time legislatures, defined as meeting year-round or for most of the year, including Alaska, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The Massachusetts legislature operates on a biennial session that spans two years. The current 2025–2026 session began in January 2025. Legislators can delay any decision-making throughout the two-year legislative session. For example, Massachusetts House Bill 2415, which would have significant implications for dry needling practice, was introduced in 2025; however, the legislature may not revisit this proposed bill until sometime in 2026. For more information about Massachusetts House Bill 2415, we covered this bill in our July 2025 Legislative News blog.
Not to be confused with Massachusetts’ biennial session, four states hold regular sessions every other year. States with this kind of biennial sessions include Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, and Texas. Since they only get together in odd-numbered years, significant legal rulings are unlikely in 2026, unless their governor or, in some cases, the legislature calls for a special session.
Most states have part-time legislators, who meet for only a portion of the year. For example, Maryland’s 2026 legislative session starts on January 14 and ends on April 13, 2026. The legislators may have other jobs when they are not in session. This is known as “citizen legislatures,” characterized by short legislative sessions that allow members to maintain other occupations. Florida, Texas, and Virginia are more demanding of their legislators, and they spend a significant portion of their time on legislative business. This is known as a “hybrid or gray legislature.” Based on a March 2025 assessment by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), most states currently have a citizen or hybrid legislature.
Some states allow bills to carry over from one year to the next, providing legislators with more time to study proposed legislation. In Georgia, a bill that would have increased the dry needling training and supervision requirements for physical therapists by more than 3,000 hours was referred to the 2026 legislative session. Before the 2026 legislative session, a Special Committee comprising all stakeholders is tasked with finding common ground. The Committee met on May 20, 2025, as we reported in our June 2025 Legislative News blog.
Legislative Session Start Dates
Legislative sessions commonly start in January or February, but in some states, they start even later, such as Louisiana (March 9, 2026) and Arkansas (April 8, 2026).
January 2026 Session Start Dates
- Alabama: January 13
- Arizona: January 12
- California: January 5
- Colorado: January 14
- Delaware: January 13
- Florida: January 13
- Georgia: January 12
- Kentucky: January 6
- Maryland: January 14
- Mississippi: January 6
- New York: January 7
- Ohio: January 6
- Pennsylvania: January 6
- Vermont: January 6
- Wisconsin: January 13
February 2026 Session Start Dates
- Connecticut: February 4
- Minnesota: February 17
- Oklahoma: February 2
- Oregon: February 2
- Wyoming: February 9
Even when not much is happening at the legislative state level, Myopain Seminars is committed to providing you with up-to-date information about pending legislative issues, espcially where it may impact dry needling practice.