89th TEXAS LEGISLATURE
Bills Passed into Law
Senate Bill 2
Partisan Bill (Republican 90-0)
Passed on June 2, 2023
Effective on September 1, 2023
Summary: Texas has enacted this school choice bill which establishes Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) for eligible students to utilize for private school tuition and other approved educational expenses.
Families can receive approximately $10,000 per student to cover private school tuition and other educational expenses. Students with disabilities may qualify for additional funding, potentially up to $30,000. And home-schooled students can receive up to $2,000 per year.
Senate Bill 17
Broadly Bipartisan Bill
Passed on June 20, 2025
Effective on 9/1/25
Summary: Texas disallows the purchase or acquisition of an interest in real property by certain aliens or foreign entities. The law creats a criminal offense and a civil penalty for offenders.
The intent is to stop individuals and entities tied to hostile foreign powers—like China—from buying Texas land and compromising our sovereignty.
Currently, real estate sales restrictions were limited to countries that the U.S. National Director of Intelligence as national intelligence threats which includes China, North Korea, and Russia.
However, on March 2025, Tulsi Gabbord, the Director of Intelligence extended the Annual Threat Assessment to to include organizations. According to the report, non-state actors directly threatening U.S. citizens include cartels, transnational Islamic extremists, and cyber criminals who consistently target health care systems and municipal governments. It is not clear as to whether these non-state bad actors are or will become part of the list.
Civil penalties for infringement upon this bill are equal to or greater than $250,000 or 50% of the markeyt value of the real property that is subject of the violation.
Criminal penalties are afforded to transnational organizations of two or more people. They include citizens of or domiciled in a designated country, are identifiable leards who operate internationally, and who continuously or regularly associate to engage in corruption, violence or commission of other criminal activities.
Senate Bill 1362
Partisan Bill (Republican 52-0)
Passed on June 22, 2025
Effective on 9/1/25
Summary: Prohibits the recognition, service, and enforcement of extreme risk protective orders.
House Bill 3053
Partisan Bill (Republican 32-0)
Status: Passed on June 20, 2025
Effective on 9/1/25
Summary: Stops municipalities from hosting gun buybacks.
A municipality or county may not adopt or enforce an ordinance,order, or other measure in which the municipality or county organizes, sponsors, or participates in a program that purchases or offers to purchase firearms with the intent to remove firearms from circulation or to reduce the number of firearms owned by civilians.
Senate Bill 8
Partisan Bill (Republican 20-0)
Status: Passed on June 20, 2025
Effective on 1/1/26
Summary: Required coordination between Texas sheriffs and ICE to enforce federal immigration law, and it provides for a grant program to cover the costs of sheriffs implementing the agreements.
The sheriff of each county that operates a jail or contracts with a private vendor to operate a jail shall request and enter into an immigration law enforcement agreement to authorize the sheriff and officers, employees, and, as applicable, contractors of the sheriff’s department to enforce federal immigration laws.
Counties that enter into an agreement can receive grants based on population size. The grants rangefrom $80,000 for a population at or less than a 99,999 people and up to $140,000 for a population at or greater than 1 million people.
Senate Bill 3070
Partisan Bill (Republican 20-0)
Status: Passed on June 20, 2025
Effective on 1/1/26
Summary: Abolishes the Texas Lottery Commission and replaces it with the Texas Departmemt of Licensing and Regulation.
The law transfers the administration of the “state lottery” and the “licensing and regulation of charitable bingo” to the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation, and it bans lottery couriers and mobile ticket sales. Violations are classified as a Class A misdemeanor which may be punishable up to 1 year in jail and a fine up to $4,000.
Calls to abolish the lottery altogether were debated in the House of Representative but was rejected by a 71 to 58 vote!
“I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
Thomas Jefferson