Life and Family
Win: HB 12 Passed: This bill extends Medicaid coverage to 12 months for postpartum mothers.
Win: HB 18 Passed: This bill increases parental control over their children’s online activity.
Win: HB 900 Passed: This bill prohibits the inclusion of sexually explicit material in school libraries and allows parents to receive notifications regarding the materials their children check out.
Win: HB 1127 Passed: This bill makes possession or promotion of child pornography an offense ineligible for community supervision.
Win: SB 14 (HB 1686) Passed: This bill prohibits the use of state funds for, and prohibits physicians from providing, gender transitioning treatments or procedures to children experiencing gender dysphoria.
Win: SB 15 Passed: This bill prohibits biological males from competing against biological females in college sports.
Win: SB 24 Passed: This bill transfers prevention and early intervention services from Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) and codifies the Alternatives to Abortion program into law allowing for a continuum of care for families.
Win: SB 412 (HB 1474) Passed: This bill requires public universities and colleges to provide pregnancy accommodations to pregnant students and protects pregnant and parenting college students from discrimination.
Win: SB 1471 (HB 3202) Passed: This bill allows accredited private schools to have equal access to the background checks available to public schools.
Win: SB 1849 (HB 4236) Passed: This bill creates an interagency database that combines the do-not-hire databases from each state agency so schools and child service providers can access one database.
Progress: SB 163: This bill repeals the 2024 expiration date for parental "opt-in" to human sexuality instruction in public schools. It was set on the House calendar, but time ran out.
Loss: HB 298 Failed to Pass: This bill requires a three-day waiting period prior to the sale of a firearm. It died in the House Select Committee on Community Safety.
Loss: HB 2477 Failed to Pass: This bill raises the age to purchase an assault style semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21. It died in the Calendars Committee.
Immigration
Win: HB 7 Failed to Pass: When the House committee sub for this bill was adopted, the TCCB was neutral on that version because it provided financial resources to strained border communities. However, the final version of this bill created a state crime of a person’s illegal presence in the US and created a Texas Border Force. We opposed that version because it did not make an exception for asylum seekers and the Texas Border Force raised significant due process concerns. It died in conference committee because the House and Senate could not agree on these two versions.
Win: HB 20 Failed to Pass: This bill charges the Department of Public Safety (DPS) with the defense and security of the Texas air, maritime and land borders. The TCCB opposed this bill because it does not distinguish between criminals and victims or legitimate refugees. It died on a Point of Order in the House.
Win: HB 65 Failed to Pass: This bill increases the criminal penalties for offenses committed during or for the purpose of unlawfully entering the US. The TCCB opposed this bill because it creates greater penalties for immigrants than other criminals. It died in the Calendars Committee.
Win: HB 1600 Failed to Pass: This bill adds a new offense to the penal code for "illegal entry" into the US. The TCCB opposed this bill because it does not distinguish between criminals and victims or asylum seekers. It died in the Calendars Committee.
Win: SB 923 Failed to Pass: This bill prohibits undocumented immigrants from enrolling in Texas public K-12 schools unless the school board has an agreement for the US government to pay the state for the cost of educating the students. The TCCB opposed this bill which would deny access to education to migrant children. It died in the Senate Education Committee.
Win: SB 2424 Failed to Pass: This bill creates a new offense of improper entry from a foreign nation. The TCCB opposed this bill which does not make an exception for asylum seekers or those who have DACA status. It died by procedural action in the House.
Loss: HB 3175 Failed to Pass: This bill adds immigration documentation, including pending applications, to the types of proof of lawful presence in the US for the issuance of a driver's license. It died in the Calendars Committee.
Restorative Justice
Win: HB 250 (SB 49) Passed: This bill allows for victims of stalking or family violence and members of their family or household to receive certain crime victim assistance.
Win: HB 459 (SB 133) Passed: This bill prohibits an officer from restraining or using a chemical irritant spray on a student aged 10 or younger, unless the student poses a serious risk of self-harm or harm to another.
Win: HB 1743 Passed: This bill requires the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) to ensure incarcerated individuals eligible for SNAP benefits apply before their release so they may access their benefits immediately upon release.
Win: HB 4921 (SB 2158) Passed: This bill is the first step to moving into the Texas Department Criminal Justice operated facilities with the adult high school program, providing imprisoned adults access to high school completion and vocational training programs within the Windham School District.
Progress: HB 16: This bill provides community-based services and other alternatives to incarceration for juvenile offenders. It died in the Senate Committee on State Affairs.
Progress: HB 180: This bill requires a court to withdraw a date for execution in a death penalty case on the motion of the attorney representing the state. It passed the House but did not receive a hearing in the Senate.
Progress: HB 188: This bill allows a judge to explain to a capital sentencing jury that unanimity is required and that every juror - acting alone - has the power to sentence a capital offender to life without parole rather than death. It passed the House but did not receive a hearing in the Senate.
Progress: HB 213: This bill provides additional considerations for youthful offenders in consideration for parole. It died in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.
Progress: HB 381: This bill prohibits a defendant with an intellectual disability from being sentenced to death. It died in the Senate Committee on Senate State Affairs.
Progress: HB 727: This bill prohibits the sentence of death for a defendant who, at the time of the commission of a capital offense, had severe mental illness. It passed the House but did not receive a hearing in the Senate.
Progress: HB 1736: This bill amends the law of parties to require a co-conspirator in a crime resulting in murder to have had a major role or acted with reckless abandon. It passed the House but did not receive a hearing in the Senate.
Progress: HB 1747: This bill streamlines the licensing review process while allowing licensing boards to consider specific serious violent and sexual offenses regardless of elapsed time without reoffending. It also requires a preponderance of the evidence standard to deny a license which supports successful reentry to the workforce for a person with a criminal record. This bill died in Senate Business & Commerce.
Loss: HB 1355 Failed to Pass: This bill requires air conditioners in TDCJ facilities. This bill died in House Calendars.
Education
Win: HB 473 (SB 562) Passed: This bill requires public schools to provide information to the parent of a student subject to a threat assessment and allow the parent to participate.
Win: HB 1905 (SB 668) Passed: This bill allows private schools and other childcare facilities to participate in public school safety training.
Win: HB 1926 Passed: This bill repeals the expiration date of the supplemental special education services program.
Win: HB 3708 Passed: This bill creates a funding allotment for public school districts who allow non-enrolled students to participate in UIL activities.
Win: HB 4070 Passed: This bill removes private schools from the entities required to post multiple signs on campus about penalties for human trafficking.
Win: SB 629 (HB 2411) Passed: This bill allows a public or private school to administer opioid antagonists to a person experiencing an apparent opioid-related drug overdose.
Win: SB 1469 (HB 3199) Passed: This bill allows child serving organizations to use the same pre-employment affidavit public and private schools use, which requires applicants to disclose any charge or conviction for an inappropriate relationship with a minor.
Win: SB 2069 Passed: This bill removes private schools from the requirement to post signs on campuses about the penalties for human trafficking.
Progress: Parental Choice: HB 619, HB 3781, HB 4340, SB 176/HB 4807, SB 8/HB 5261, SB 2354/HB 4339, SB 2483: We supported all the parental choice bills that required accreditation for participating private schools and contained robust religious liberty and autonomy protections. Our advocacy concentrated on those bills that prioritized the poor. Ultimately SB 8 passed out of the Senate and received a hearing in the House but was not voted out of committee. We are optimistic a parental choice bill will pass in a special session.
Progress: HB 13: This bill requires school district employees to complete training on mental health first aid training and requires schools to adopt active shooter plans. It passed the House but did not receive a hearing in the Senate.
Progress: SB 595: This bill requires a signed written consent by parents for students to participate in psychological or psychiatric examination or tests in a public school. It was set on the House calendar, but time ran out.
Healthcare
Win: HB 400 Passed: This bill creates a grant program to award grants to medical schools for residents specializing in adult and pediatric psychiatric care.
Win: HB 3162 (SB 1724) Passed: This bill reforms the Texas Advance Directives Act including extending the number of days to transfer a patient from 10 to 25.
Win: SB 52 Passed: This bill expands the in-person essential caregiver protections to patients in state hospitals.
Win: SB 294 (HB 920) Passed: This bill allows schools to adopt and implement a policy regarding the maintenance, administration, and disposal of medication for respiratory distress.
Progress: HB 1599: This bill allows HHSC to use already-verified information from other state programs such as SNAP to move eligible kids to an "express lane" for enrollment in Medicaid or CHIP. It passed the House but did not receive a hearing in the Senate.
Progress: HB 15: This bill establishes the Mental Health and Brain Research Institute of Texas to create and expedite innovation in mental health and brain research. It passed the House but did not receive a hearing in the Senate.
Progress: HB 98 (SB 113): This bill allows a school to contract with a local mental health authority to provide mental health services to students and allows the school district to enroll as a provider under Medicaid for the provision of those services to students who are Medicaid recipients. It passed the House but did not receive a hearing in the Senate.
Progress: HB 906 (SB 633): This bill requires colleges and universities to provide new students with information about available mental health and suicide prevention resources. It passed the House but did not receive a hearing in the Senate.
Progress: HB 1898: This bill establishes a grant program for children's hospitals to increase mental and behavioral health services. It was placed on the Senate Intent calendar, but time ran out.
Progress: HB 2337: This bill broadens the definition of behavioral health services provided under Medicaid to include intensive outpatient services and partial hospitalization services. It passed the House but did not receive a hearing in the Senate.
Social Concerns
Win: HB 54 Passed: This bill increased the personal needs allowance from $60 to $85 for certain Medicaid recipients who are residents of long-term care facilities.
Win: HB 225 Failed to Pass: This bill increases the maximum reference base amount for certain consumer loans from $200 to $300, enabling 342F lenders to make larger loans at very high rates. The TCCB opposed this bill because it would broaden the number of loans subject to the acquisition charge and installment account handling charge in cash advances. It died in the Calendars Committee.
Win: HB 456 Passed: This bill exempts royalty interests owned by a charitable organization from property taxes.
Win: HB 844 Passed: This bill includes the role of the buyer in the definition of human trafficking by adding "solicit" and "patronize” which will help to identify and assist victims of trafficking.
Win: HB 1024 (SB 500) Passed: This bill increases the amount of property that may be offered or awarded at a charitable raffle from $250,000 to $1,000,000.
Win: HB 1287 Passed: This bill excludes from consideration of a person’s resources in determining SNAP eligibility the value of the household’s first vehicle owned, up to $22,500 and $8700 for each additional vehicle.
Win: HB 1433 (SB 483) Passed: This bill prohibits persons convicted of trafficking or sexual abuse from obtaining licenses to work in or operate a massage business or massage school.
Win: HB 2016 Passed: This bill adds sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault to the offenses that disqualify a person from obtaining a license to work in or operate a massage business or massage school.
Win: HB 3827 Failed to Pass: This bill creates a new category of lenders called Earned Wage Access Providers and exempts them from usury statutes. The TCCB opposed this bill because it did not have explicit consumer protections.,
Win: SB 26 Passed: This bill seeks to expand mental health capacity, especially for children and adolescents, through the creation of an innovation grant program and requires transition support services for high need patients discharged from facilities.
Win: SB 188 Passed: This bill requires the owner or operator of a group home to obtain the criminal history record information for applicants for employment and current employees.
Win: SB 1192 Passed: This bill entitles the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to obtain criminal history record information for applicants for employment, contract, or volunteer positions with access to sensitive personal and financial information including positions in the regulatory services division.
Progress: HB 637: This bill requires permanency care assistance payments to kinship providers of foster care until the later of the last day of the month of the child's 18th birthday or the last day of the month the child receives a high school diploma or high school equivalency certificate. It passed the House but did not receive a hearing in the Senate.
Progress: HB 2127 (SB 814) Passed with Compromise: This bill precludes municipalities or counties from adopting or enforcing an ordinance, order, rule, or policy in a field occupied by provisions of several state codes unless explicitly authorized by statute. The TCCB initially opposed this bill which would undermine the work of local communities to address payday lending. The bill authors amended it to exempt the existing payday lending ordinances from the bill at our request and we removed our opposition.
Religious Liberty
Win: HB 1212 Passed: This bill allows an excused absence for a public-school student to observe a religious holiday if a parent provides a note.
Win: HB 1883 Passed: This bill allows public schools to consider religious holy days when scheduling the administration of assessment instruments.
Progress: SB 559 (HB 2846): This bill prohibits the state bar from discriminating against an applicant's ability to obtain or renew a law license based on a sincerely held religious belief. It was set on the House calendar, but time ran out.
Progress: SB 1711: This bill prohibits institutions of higher education from discriminating against a student organization based on political, religious, philosophical, ideological, or academic viewpoints expressed by the organization or the requirement that an organization’s leadership adhere to the values, mission and purpose of the organization. It passed out of the Senate but did not receive a hearing in the House.
Loss: HB 1882 Failed to Pass: This bill includes All Saints Day, Eid al-Adha, Eid al-Fitr, Vaisakhi, Vesak, one day of Diwali, and one day of Passover in the list of designated religious holy days chosen as optional holidays by state employees. It was voted out of committee but not set on the House calendar.
Loss: HB 3534 Failed to Pass: This bill requires the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to post on its website a printable brochure that includes info on firearm violence and suicide prevention and requires a licensed firearms dealer to provide a copy of the brochure to a person whom a firearm is being sold or transferred to unless the transferee has a license to carry a handgun. It died in the Calendars Committee.
Creation
Win: HB 53 Passed: This bill exempts from registration fees a vehicle used by a nonprofit disaster relief organization exclusively for emergencies, training, equipment maintenance, transportation of disaster relief supplies, or other activities related to disaster relief.
Loss: HB 94 Failed to Pass: This bill requires the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) in determining whether to approve an application for a concrete batch plant, to consider the potential harm to local property values and the location of the facility relative to homes, schools, places of worship, parks, and other community assets. It died in the House Environmental Regulation Committee.
Loss: HB 406 Failed to Pass: This bill allows a representative of a school, place of worship, licensed day-care center, hospital, or medical facility located within 880 yards of a proposed concrete plant to request a public hearing from TCEQ. It died in the House Environmental Regulation Committee.
Loss: HB 585 Failed to Pass: This bill requires the TCEQ to create a plan to protect water treatment facilities from electrical outages, catastrophic weather events, terrorist attacks, the projected effects of climate change, and other potential disruptions to providing water service. It was set on the House calendar, but time ran out.
Loss: HB 926 Failed to Pass: This bill allows a representative of a school, place of worship, licensed day-care center, hospital, or medical facility located within 440 yards of a proposed concrete plant to request a hearing from TCEQ. It died in the House Environmental Regulation Committee.