HB 1820 Texas House · 89th Legislature (2025)

Relating to the expunction of arrest records and files when a grand jury fails to find that probable cause exists to believe the alleged offense was committed.

HB 1820 allows individuals arrested for a crime but never charged to clear their arrest records under specific conditions. It directly affects people who were arrested but not prosecuted, including those where a grand jury failed to find probable cause for the alleged offense. The bill establishes timeframes for expungement: 180 days for Class C misdemeanors, one year for Class B/A misdemeanors, and three years for felonies, or if the state attorney certifies records aren't needed for investigations. If no indictment or information was filed within these periods, or if the grand jury declined to find probable cause, the person can request record removal. The law applies to offenses occurring before, during, or after its effective date of September 1, 2025.
Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Mar 2025
Committee Review
May 2025
House Passage
May 2025
Senate Passage
Governor
Introduced Mar 14, 2025 Last action May 19, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Engrossed · 1 edit · May 16, 2025
MINOR
The bill text was reformatted and reorganized with improved spacing and alignment, but the substantive legal content regarding arrest record expunction remains unchanged. The core provisions for when arrest records can be expunged, including timeframes and conditions, are identical to the original version.
TECHNICAL

Formatting and spacing adjustments were made throughout the document, including repositioning of headers, removal of extraneous text like 'The digital content on TLO has been updated to align with the accessibility standards required by WCAG 2.1', and standardization of line breaks and indentation.

Floor votes · House May 15, 2025

How they voted

1350
Passed · 10 other
Total votes 145
May 15, 2025
D Democratic60
55 Yea 5
91% Yea
R Republican85
80 Yea 5
94% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
25
Key actions
7
Committee
7
May 19, 2025
Committee
Referred to Criminal Justice
upper
May 19, 2025
Introduced
Read first time
upper
May 19, 2025
Introduced
Received from the House
upper
May 16, 2025
Lower · Passed
Passed
lower
May 15, 2025
Lower · Passed
Passed to engrossment
lower
May 9, 2025
Lower · Passed
Committee report sent to Calendars
lower
May 9, 2025
Lower · Passed
Committee report distributed
lower
May 6, 2025
Lower · Passed
Reported favorably w/o amendment(s)
lower
Apr 22, 2025
Lower · Passed
Left pending in committee
lower
Apr 22, 2025
Lower · Passed
Testimony taken/registration(s) recorded in committee
lower
Mar 14, 2025
Committee
Referred to Criminal Jurisprudence
lower
Mar 14, 2025
Introduced
Read first time
lower
5 primary · 5 co-sponsors

Sponsors