Here are some of the Texas laws that go into effect in 2023

HUSTON – Several Texas laws will take effect in 2023. The laws were passed and signed into law during the 87th Texas Legislature and include changes to property taxes, building codes and more.

See the laws and their summaries below. Note that some of the laws listed below took effect in 2021, but are included here because they have sections that won’t go into effect until 2023.

Changes in the judicial branch of state government

HB 3774 is an omnibus bill related to the operation and administration of courts in the judicial branch of state government.

House Bill 3774 amends the Code of Civil Practice and Remedies, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Property Code, the Family Code, the Government Code, and the Local Government Code. Among other provisions, the draft law provides for the following:

• creates 10 district courts, five district courts, one statutory probate court and one criminal magistrate court;

• revises the jurisdiction of certain district law courts;

• gives the magistrates of certain districts jurisdiction in criminal actions;

• defines the duties of certain district and circuit attorneys;

• makes certain changes applicable to proceedings in justice or municipal court or in juvenile justice and family courts;

• provides public access to the state court docket database, if authorized by the Texas Supreme Court;

• revises procedures for transferring cases between courts and provides for the development of a standardized transfer certificate and an index form of transferred documents;

• provides a code of professional responsibility to regulate the conduct of entities regulated by the Texas Forensic Science Commission, revises the commission’s investigative power, and authorizes the commission to use appropriated funds for the training and education of forensic analysts;

• includes a county veterans service office among the causes to which a juror can donate their per diem;

• provides for the appointment of a judge or magistrate of a district or legal circuit court to preside over a specialized regional court program under certain conditions;

• authorizes a defendant participating in a court veterans treatment program to transfer to another such program in a county adjacent to the county in which they work or reside;

• requires the Texas Supreme Court to adopt rules regarding exemptions from garnishment of debtor’s property;

• provides for the registry of protective orders to include protective orders for victims of sexual assault or abuse, stalking, or trafficking and for the removal of certain vacated orders from the registry;

• makes some changes regarding the regulation of court reporters;

• extends the time by which the state’s attorney must respond to a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed after final conviction in a non-death penalty felony case and provides alternative methods of serving a copy of a petition for a such letter to the state attorney in a community supervision case; AND

• authorizes a judge or magistrate to order the use of the uniform incident fingerprint card to fingerprint an offender who is charged with a fine-only misdemeanor involving domestic violence but was not placed under custodial custody.

The bill came into force on 1 September 2021, with the exception of some sections which take effect on 1 January 2023.

Lowering the property tax cap to reflect compressed school district fees

SB 12, 87 2nd CS amends the Education Code, Government Code, and Tax Code to provide for a reduction in the amount of the limitation on the total amount of property taxes that may be assessed by a public school district on the residence of an elderly individual or disabled to reflect any reduction from the previous tax year in the district’s maximum compacted tax rate. Among other provisions, the bill entitles a district that is not fully compensated by state aid or the excess local revenue calculation as part of the charter school program based on the determination of the taxable value of the district’s property to state aid additional in the necessary amount. to fully compensate the county for lost property tax revenue due to the abatement.

The bill enters into force on January 1, 2023.

Hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants

SB 1210 amends the Texas Clean Air Act, Health and Safety Code, to prohibit a building code or other requirement applicable to commercial or residential buildings or structures from prohibiting the use of a substitute refrigerant authorized pursuant to the Act federal Clean Air.

The bill enters into force on January 1, 2023.

Special districts for water and waste water

HB 3530, a continuation of the Legislature’s ongoing statutory review program, codifies insubstantial a number of special areas of session law in the Special District Local Laws Code. The codified districts include a fertilizer improvement district, a utility district, two river authorities, and a water control and improvement district.

The bill enters into force on April 1, 2023.

Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation

HB 1560 amends and repeals certain provisions of the Alcoholic Beverage Code, Criminal Procedure Code, Education Code, Family Code, Government Code, Health and Safety Code, Human Resources Code, Occupations Code, and Transportation Code to provided for the continuation and functions of the Texas Commission on Licensing and Regulation (TCLR) and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR). The bill continues TCLR and TDLR until September 1, 2033. The bill, among other provisions, postpones review of certain programs transferred to TDLR until the 2032-2033 review cycle. The bill revises the provisions regarding complaints received by the TDLR and includes a provision requiring the TDLR to post an additional statistical analysis of these complaints. The bill also requires TDLR to conduct risk-based inspections. Additionally, the bill transfers certain duties related to continuing education programs from TCLR to TDLR.

House Bill 1560 requires TDLR to study auction regulation and eliminates licensing requirements for polygraph examiners. The bill consolidates licenses and certifications covering both barbers and cosmetologists and, in light of this consolidation, removes some unnecessary regulations related to those professions. The bill eliminates the license requirement for persons issuing a residential service contract by repealing the law on residential service companies. Instead, the bill provides for the regulation of such contracts through the Service Contract Regulation Act.

In addition to the provisions of the bill repealing certain statutory provisions related to driver training that take effect on June 1, 2023, the bill takes effect on September 1, 2021.

Regarding a summary of a proposed rule by a state agency

HB 1322 amends the Government Code to require a state agency that sends notice of a proposed rule to the secretary of state under the Administrative Procedure Act to publish on its website a summary of the proposed rule written in plain language in English and Spanish.

The draft law enters into force on September 1, 2023.

Public school finance system and public education

HB 1525 amends the Education Code and the Government Code to revise aspects of the public school finance system and to provide for certain temporary allocations of funds, among other provisions. Regarding the local portion of the funding, the bill revises the property value basis for calculating the maximum compacted tax rate, clarifies the 10 percent deviation rule, and requires the commissioner of education to reduce state aid or adjust the local revenue cap. of a public school district. level to offset any revenue generated by a district’s taxing efforts that do not comply with applicable law. The bill provides for the enforcement of a prohibition on the imposition of a district maintenance tax at a rate intended to create a surplus for the purpose of paying debt service. The bill excludes Basic School Program (FSP) funds appropriated to a district from the available school fund from being used to offset the district’s recapture amount, but allows the use of other Tier 1 and Tier 2 district funding for a such compensation. The bill revises the basis on which certain consolidated districts are eligible for incentive assistance.

This Act came into force on 1 September 2021, except for section 14, which came into force on 1 September 2023.

Adult high school charter program

SB 1615 amends the Education Code to redesignate the adult high school program and industry certification as an adult high school program and expand the scope of the program from a single charter granted to a charter holder to a the non-profit entity in a regulatory framework for similar cards that can be issued to additional entities. The bill limits the number of adult high school charters that can be issued within a specified initial period and creates an initial enrollment cap for newly certified programs.

Senate Bill 1615 revises the requirements for the curriculum of an adult education program and for related training and services. The bill, in addition to revising the specifications for the program’s accountability framework, requires the commissioner of education to adopt a separate accountability framework for an adult education program located in a correctional facility and provides transitional performance measures for both frameworks. The bill authorizes the revocation of a charter for certain repeated failures to meet performance standards and revises applicable provisions regarding charter eligibility and expansion changes, appropriate exit-level secondary testing, and program accountability. The bill increases the age at which a program student becomes ineligible for Foundation School Program (FSP) funding from 26 to 50.

Effective September 1, 2021, Senate Bill 1615 provides transitional FSP funding for students in an applicable adult education program, including the removal of a certain age differential. Entering into force on September 1, 2023, the bill establishes program-specific methods for calculating the relevant FSP funding components, including average daily participation; compensatory sharing of education; college, career, or military readiness score bonus; and an additional division based on weighted student scores.

MORE: Texas lawmakers target property taxes, voter fraud and transgender people in new legislation ahead of 2023 session