New Texas laws taking effect in 2024

While communities across the state of Texas gear up to celebrate the new year, they should also be aware of a few new state laws taking effect as soon as the ball drops for 2024.

AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) – While communities across the state of Texas gear up to celebrate the new year, they should also be aware of a few new state laws taking effect as soon as the ball drops for 2024.

The 88th Texas Legislature sent more than 1,095 laws into immediate effect during 2023, but at the end of lawmakers' fourth special session, there were about 55 laws set to go into effect during 2024.

Many of these laws relate to subjects including the state government's judicial branch, property ownership, taxes, digital safety, e-cigarette advertising, and banning diversity, equity, and inclusion offices at public higher education institutions.

January 2024

The Protecting Children from Electronic Cigarette Advertising Act

HB 4758 creates a Class B misdemeanor offense for marketing, advertising, selling, or causing to be sold an e‑cigarette product, including any substance containing nicotine from any source that is intended for use in an e‑cigarette, in certain containers that are designed to appeal to minors.

Youth diversion and children in the criminal justice system

HB 3186, the Texas Youth Diversion and Early Intervention Act, sets provisions that provide for diverting the criminal prosecution of a child accused of a fine-only misdemeanor that is not a traffic offense.

Banning diversity, equity, and inclusion measures in higher education

SB 17 prohibits higher education institutions from funding or supporting diversity, equity and inclusion offices. The bill also bans assigning employees or contracting third parties to perform the duties of a DEI office, as well as banning required DEI training.

Health benefits and electronic verification

HB 4500 requires certain health benefit plan issuers to maintain and make available a secure online system for health providers to determine whether a patient is covered by the issuer's health benefit plan and the deductible, copayment, or coinsurance for which the patient is responsible.

Property, appraisals and taxes

• HB 260 requires the chief appraiser of an appraisal district to consider the effect of diseases and pests on the net income of the land when calculating net to land of open-space land in or next to a designated wildlife or livestock disease or pest area.
• HB 456 exempts mineral interests from property taxes in places owned by qualifying charitable organizations.
• HB 614 requires the authorized board of a property owners' association to levy a fine to adopt an enforcement policy related to levying fines.
• HB 796 requires the chief appraiser of each appraisal district to create, maintain and annually update a publicly available and searchable database for information on protest hearings.
• HB 1058 establishes a franchise tax credit for a taxable entity owning an interest in a qualified development that is awarded or allocated a federal low-income housing credit by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. The bill also amends the Insurance Code to make an entity eligible for a tax credit against its state premium tax liability if it owns an interest in a qualified development. Lastly, the bill bans the TDHCA from allocating any new franchise tax or insurance premium tax credits after Dec. 31, 2029.
• HB 1228 requires that a chief appraiser to electronically deliver communications when asked by a property owner or the owner's agent. The bill also gives the property owner or owner's agent the ability to request an electronic or mailed copy of the information used to appraise the owner's property, when applicable.
• HB 1285 expands the duties of a taxpayer liaison officer to include resolving complaints related to the appraisal district or its review board that do not involve property appraisals and also provides for the appointment of deputy taxpayer liaison officers. The bill also revises the procedures for removing the chair of an appraisal review board.
• HB 2121 allows for the filing of a rendition statement or property report on behalf of a property owner who is rendering personal property used for the income and who estimates the property is not worth more than $150,000, without needing to be sworn to before a notary or other oath-qualified officer.
• HB 2354 amends the Tax Code to establish that when qualified open-space land is transferred from an owner to their surviving spouse, the land is not considered to have changed ownership when determining if the land is eligible to continue to be appraised for property tax purposes.
• HB 3273 requires that chief appraisers and tax assessors display where relevant property tax information can be found online on their websites instead of sending an annual postcard notice to property owners.
• HB 4077 revises the law to say that a person who receives a residence homestead property tax exemption in a year can receive the mandatory residence homestead property tax exemption for people 65 years of age or older along with any local option exemption for people 65 years of age or older on the same property in the next tax year without applying.
• HB 4101 authorizes a property owner who files a notice of a property tax protest to compel the chief appraiser or review board to comply with hearing procedures adopted by the review board.
• HB 4456 removes the requirement for the comptroller of public accounts to prescribe tax rate calculation forms for use by public school districts.
• HB 4645 entitles a qualifying 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization that creates low-income housing and leases land under a ground lease to an exemption from property taxes for the improvements owned by the organization.
• SB 539 requires the collector for a taxing unit to indicate on each delinquent property tax roll if a delinquent tax included on the roll is legally deferred or abated.
• SB 719 provides for the property tax exemption for qualifying charitable organizations that have services related to planning for placing children in foster or adoptive homes or providing support or relief to women who are pregnant and considering placing their children for adoption, if they are organized exclusively to perform for religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes and are engaged exclusively in performing.
• SB 1340 requires the Chapter 380 and 381 Agreement Database to also include agreements entered into under the Property Redevelopment and Tax Abatement Act and to require that the database be a consolidated searchable data tool.
• SB 1381 entitles the surviving spouse of a person receiving a homestead property tax exemption for a person 65 years of age or older to receive that exemption in the next tax year on the same property without applying for the exemption.
• SB 1577 renames the Real Estate Research Center as the Texas Real Estate Research Center and makes changes to the advisory committee rules.
• SB 1999 replaces the formula used to calculate a taxing unit's unused increment tax rate for property tax purposes.
• SB 2355 allows for requests for binding arbitration to be filed directly with the comptroller of public accounts instead of requiring that it be filed with the appraisal district.
• SB 2440 replaces the authority of a municipal authority responsible for approving plats and of a county commissioner's court to require a plat application for the subdivision of a tract of land with groundwater to have an attached statement regarding the availability of groundwater.
• SB 3 increases the amount of total revenue exemption for the franchise tax to $2.47 million.

Municipal building permit fees

HB 1922 sets a building permit fee of a municipality to be abolished on the 10th anniversary after the date the fee is adopted or most recently reauthorized unless the municipality's government holds a public hearing and reauthorizes the fee.

Online notarizations

SB 1780 sets out provisions for the online notarization of tangible instruments or electronic documents by an online notary public with a tangible symbol and not an electronic signature.

Specialty license plates

HB 2323 provides for issuing specialty license plates to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the writing of the state song "Texas, Our Texas."

The following bills have sections that become effective in January 2024, including multiple that were voted on in the November 2023 constitutional amendment election:

• HB 5 - Relating to agreements authorizing a limitation on taxable value of certain property to provide for the creation of jobs and the generation of state and local tax revenue; authorizing fees; authorizing penalties.
• HB 9 - Relating to the development and funding of broadband and telecommunications services.
• HB 1595 - Relating to the administration and investment of, and distribution and use of money from, certain constitutional and statutory funds to support general academic teaching institutions in achieving national prominence as major research universities and driving the state economy.
• SB 2, 88th 2nd C.S. - Relating to providing property tax relief through the public school finance system, exemptions, limitations on appraisals and taxes, and property tax administration; authorizing the imposition of a fee.
• SB 10 - Relating to certain benefits paid by the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.
• SB 28 - Relating to financial assistance provided and programs administered by the Texas Water Development Board.
• SB 478 - Relating to the administration of the motorcycle operator training and safety program and requirements for the issuance of certain driver's licenses and commercial driver's licenses; requiring an occupational license; authorizing a fee.
• SB 604 - Relating to land services performed by a landman.
• SB 1145 - Relating to a local option exemption from ad valorem taxation by a county or municipality of all or part of the appraised value of real property used to operate a child-care facility.
• SB 1444 - Relating to the public retirement systems for employees of certain municipalities.
• SB 1612 - Relating to court administration and costs; increasing certain court costs; authorizing fees.
• SB 1648 - Relating to the centennial parks conservation fund.
• SB 2289 - Relating to the exemption from ad valorem taxation of equipment or inventory held by a manufacturer of medical or biomedical products to protect the Texas healthcare network and strengthen our medical supply chain.

March 2024

San Antonio health regulations

SB 1794 repeals the authorization of the City of San Antonio to negotiate with Bexar County conditions under which the city will grant consent to include its extraterritorial jurisdiction in an emergency services district.

July 2024

Consumers' personal data protection

HB 4, the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act, regulates the collection, use, processing, and treatment of consumers' personal data by certain businesses. The bill sets out provisions regarding consumers' personal data rights, a required privacy notice to customers, and the disclosure of a sale of personal data to a third party by an applicable business. The bill creates a civil penalty for violations and gives the attorney general authority to enforce the bill.

Property tax relief through the public school system

SB 2, 88th 2nd C.S., the Property Tax Relief Act, provides for a $0.107 reduction in a public school district's maximum compressed tax rate for the 2023‑24 school year, increases the amount of the general school district residence homestead property tax exemption from $40,000 to $100,000, and provides for a temporary circuit breaker limitation of 20% on the annual appraised‑value increase for non‑homestead property valued at not more than $5 million.

September 2024

Regulating students and public school electronics

HB 18, the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment Act, establishes the duty of digital service providers to register a user's age before entering an agreement to create an account. The bill also establishes duties for digital service providers regarding collecting and using the personal identifying information of known minor users, preventing harm to known minors, advertising and marketing, creating parental tools, algorithm use, verifying a minor's parent or guardian, and parental access to a minor's personal identifying information.

Court notices for state defendants in state jail felony facilities

HB 1710 requires the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to provide notice to a judge no later than the 60th day after the date a defendant is received into that custody, of the date on which the defendant will have served 75 days in the facility if requested by the judge for the purposes of placing a defendant on community supervision.

Tex reporting by state agencies and counties

HB 4510 changes the deadline for an applicable state agency to submit its annual financial report from Nov. 20 to Nov. 1, but retains the Nov. 20 deadline for a public institution of higher education. The bill also removes the requirements for the comptroller of public accounts to provide copies of any reports received from a consultant contracting with the comptroller to conduct recovery audits to the governor, the state auditor's office, and the Legislative Budget Board. The comptroller of public accounts is also no longer required to give certain tax information to the Department of State Health Services, and instead the DSHS can require a county to provide that information.

Notifications on generic insulin unavailability

SB 241 amends the Health and Safety Code to require the manufacturer of a brand name insulin prescription drug for which a generic or biosimilar prescription drug is not available and that is included in the Medicaid vendor drug program formulary to submit a written verification regarding the cause of the drug unavailability.

Texas State Buildings Preservation Endowment Fund

SB 1333 establishes the Texas State Buildings Preservation Endowment Fund as a fund outside the treasury held, managed, and invested by the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company to maintain, preserve, rehabilitate, and restore the state buildings and grounds over which the State Preservation Board has jurisdiction, to abolish the capital renewal trust fund, and to repeal provisions creating the Governor's Mansion renewal trust fund and the State Cemetery preservation trust fund. The bill also provides for the transfer of the unencumbered balances of the former trust funds to the new endowment fund in September 2024.

Family violence support center services

SB 1841 updates provisions relating to contracts between the Health and Human Services Commission and family violence centers. Among other provisions, the bill:

• Requires a center to demonstrate it is using a voluntary and trauma-informed advocacy service model as a condition of eligibility for a contract;
• Revises the list of services a contracted center is required to provide; and
• Requires the contracts to specify that participation in services by a victim of family violence is voluntary and to ban center operators from requiring a victim of family violence to participate in other services as a condition of receiving shelter.

October 2024

Changes to the Texas government's judicial branch

HB 3474 is an omnibus bill relating to operating and administering the practices and procedures of the Texas government's judicial branch. It amends multiple codes to numerous effects, including:

• Creating 13 district courts, two statutory county courts, one multicounty statutory court, five statutory probate courts, and one criminal law magistrate court;
• Revises the jurisdiction of certain courts;
• Establishes term start dates for certain district courts;
• Revises provisions relating to associate and visiting judges;
• Sets out standard procedures for court clerks transferring or receiving probate and guardianship cases between courts;
• Provides for service credit for a statutory county court, including a multicounty statutory county court judge, or a statutory probate court judge for any years of service as a district attorney, criminal district attorney, or county attorney;
• Provides for service credit service credit for a district attorney or criminal district attorney for any years of service as a district attorney, criminal district attorney, county attorney, appellate court justice, district judge, or statutory county court or statutory probate court judge and provides for longevity pay for such an attorney;
• Revises provisions relating to jurors and jury service as well as relating to a district clerk's authority to summon grand jurors;
• Revises provisions relating to court reporters and interpreters;
• Sets provisions relating to court deposition, transcription, and interpretation services;
• Revises provisions related to criminal proceedings, including expunction and applications for writs of habeas corpus;
• Requires a statutory county court, district court, or appellate court to deliver through the statewide electronic filing system all applicable court orders entered for the case; and
• Removes the requirement that the executive director of the Texas Indigent Defense Commission be a licensed attorney.

While Texas lawmakers gaveled out of the fourth special session of the 88th Texas Legislature at the start of December, they could reconvene in 2024 and add to the list of new state laws. High-interest measures related to school safety and funding, as well as others related to procedures for election challenges, remained on the table.