House Bill 16 | Effective: See below |
House Author: Leach et al. | House Committee: Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence |
Senate Sponsor: Hughes et al. | Senate Committee: State Affairs |
House Bill 16 is an omnibus bill relating to the operation and administration of and practices and procedures regarding proceedings in the judicial branch of state government. The bill contains some of the same provisions as vetoed Senate Bill 2878, 89th Legislature, Regular Session, 2025.
House Bill 16 amends the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, Election Code, Estates Code, Family Code, Finance Code, Government Code, Health and Safety Code, Human Resources Code, Labor Code, Local Government Code, Occupations Code, Penal Code, Property Code, Tax Code, and Transportation Code. Among other provisions, the bill does the following:
- revises the composition of certain judicial districts and the jurisdiction of certain district courts and statutory county courts;
- creates 14 judicial districts, 2 statutory county courts, 1 statutory probate court, and 2 district attorney offices;
- includes in the calculation of years of service for the purpose of determining the total annual salary of a statutory county court judge any years of service as a full‑time district court, multicounty statutory county court, or statutory probate court associate judge;
- raises the cap on the amount in controversy in a civil case over which a statutory county court has concurrent jurisdiction with the district court;
- revises provisions relating to excess contributions and fees allocated to statutory probate courts;
- requires a court security committee to develop a court emergency management plan and makes certain other changes relating to the operation and responsibilities of such committees;
- removes residency requirements for service as a municipal judge in certain cities;
- allows a former or retired justice of an appellate court to be assigned as a visiting judge for a statutory probate court and sets out provisions regarding a motion of recusal or disqualification of a statutory probate court judge;
- adjusts the visiting judge salary tier;
- sets out provisions applicable to judges or justices assigned to a court in a county located in the Texas‑Mexico border region that relate to compensation and the use of electronic means to conduct proceedings or perform judicial actions;
- provides for judicial mentor compensation;
- revises the qualifications for appointment as a criminal magistrate in Bell County and provides for the appointment of criminal associate judges in Coke, Concho, Irion, Runnels, Schleicher, Sterling, and Tom Green Counties;
- revises the composition of certain juvenile boards;
- revises provisions regarding required judicial training on family violence, sexual assault, trafficking of persons, or child abuse and neglect by including elder abuse and neglect as a topic covered by the training and by requiring that a judge or judicial officer who does not hear cases on these issues be exempted from the training;
- designates the office of chief justice or justice for the Fifteenth Court of Appeals as a statewide judicial office for purposes of the Judicial Campaign Fairness Act, establishes a timeline for filling the last two places on that court, and establishes a jurisdiction restriction for a notice of appeal in a civil case requesting assignment of the appeal to that court;
- removes Bastrop County from the jurisdiction of the Second Business Court Division and adds that county to the jurisdiction of the Third Business Court Division;
- sets out requirements for a district clerk with respect to record maintenance;
- requires each prosecuting attorney to report to the Texas Judicial Council certain information relating to the number and categories of offenses prosecuted, the attorney's personnel, number of missed indictment deadlines that led to release, and the number of out‑of‑county offenses committed by defendants released from the attorney's jurisdiction;
- authorizes the administrative director of the Office of Court Administration (OCA) to develop an alternative performance measure to assess the efficient and timely adjudication of probate and mental health matters for purposes of OCA's annual report;
- revises the term length of a local administrative district judge;
- requires OCA to hold an annual court leadership conference;
- increases the fee for a bond approval;
- removes an appeal as a type of action for which a local consolidated civil filing fee must be paid;
- requires OCA to conduct a study on digital court recording;
- sets out requirements relating to the contents of copies certified by clerks;
- revises provisions relating to the applicability of limitations periods to arbitration;
- requires court clerks to be provided certain additional identifying information for each party in a civil action who is an individual;
- removes the authorization for a magistrate's order for emergency protection to be transferred to the court that assumed jurisdiction over the relevant offense on motion, notice and hearing, or on agreement of the parties, but maintains the authorization for such an order to be modified by that court;
- increases the amount of credit earned by a defendant toward fines or costs for the performance of certain labor or community service;
- establishes certain fees for petitioners seeking expunction of a criminal record;
- revises procedures for the contest of an election on a proposed constitutional amendment;
- authorizes the use of a digitized signature for waiver of service in a suit for the dissolution of a marriage and the use of electronic notarization in a proceeding relating to the marriage relationship;
- revises requirements for applicable courts relating to a motion for summary judgment;
- revises provisions relating to youth diversion;
- reverses certain statutory changes made by S.B. 1164, Acts of the 89th Legislature, Regular Session, 2025, with respect to certificates of medical examination for mental illness and court orders for temporary or extended inpatient mental health services;
- revises provisions relating to the Texas Supreme Court's rulemaking power in civil actions;
- revises provisions relating to petit and grand jury service;
- clarifies the authority of an attorney serving on the special prosecution unit, grants certain persons affiliated with the unit immunity from liability for good faith conduct under applicable state laws, and provides for attorney general representation of such a person on request;
- extends to certain judicial employees the applicability of confidentiality protections for home address information on county voter registration lists, in local property tax appraisal records, and on driver's licenses and exceptions to required disclosure under state public information law for certain personal information;
- provides for a county clerk or district clerk to redact from a website certain personal information excepted from disclosure under state public information law on request of the person to whom the information relates;
- classifies a federal judge who resides in Texas as an "at‑risk individual" for purposes of provisions relating to the protection of personal identifying information of such individuals in the judicial branch;
- establishes that an arrest warrant issued for a child and a complaint or affidavit on which such a warrant is based are confidential and limits disclosure of those documents;
The bill takes effect December 4, 2025, except as otherwise provided by the bill.