Relating to compliance with the public information law by governmental bodies and the imposition of charges for providing copies of public information under that law; providing a civil penalty.
HB 675 modifies Texas public information law to limit fees for election-related records. It prohibits governmental bodies from charging for copies of election reports required under Election Code Chapter 254 unless those reports have been publicly available online for three years. The bill also gives the Attorney General authority to cancel or reduce fees if a government body failed to maintain records properly or comply with public information requests. The changes apply only to requests received on or after September 1, 2025.
Bill status
passed
3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Mar 2025
Committee Review
Apr 2025
House Passage
Apr 2025
Senate Passage
Governor
Introduced Mar 4, 2025
Last action Apr 14, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison
What changed between versions
Introduced
→
Engrossed
·
4 edits
·
Apr 9, 2025
MODERATE
This bill was updated from its original introduction to an engrossed version, adding new enforcement provisions and clarifying the scope of public information charges. The changes expand the attorney general's authority to collect civil penalties for violations and add new subsections to the Government Code regarding compliance with public information requests.
Scope change
The bill's scope was expanded to include new enforcement mechanisms and additional subsections addressing governmental body compliance with public information requests.
ENFORCEMENT
Added new subsection (d) prohibiting governmental bodies from knowingly failing to comply with public information requests, and subsection (e) establishing a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per violation for such failures.
Added new subsection (f) granting the attorney general authority to bring legal actions to collect civil penalties under the new subsection (e).
REQUIREMENT
Modified the bill text to include additional subsections (d), (e), and (f) in Section 2, expanding the attorney general's enforcement capabilities beyond the original version.
TECHNICAL
Removed original formatting and header information from the introduced version, replacing it with the engrossed version's standardized legislative text format.
Floor votes · House Apr 8, 2025
How they voted
144–2
Passed
Total votes 146
Apr 8, 2025
D
Democratic59
96% Yea
R
Republican87
100% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea
All Nay
Mixed
No data
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
26
Key actions
9
Committee
7
Amendments
2
Apr 14, 2025
Committee
Referred to Business & Commerce
upper
Apr 14, 2025
Introduced
Read first time
upper
Apr 9, 2025
Introduced
Received from the House
upper
Apr 9, 2025
Lower · Passed
Passed
lower
Apr 8, 2025
Lower · Passed
Passed to engrossment as amended
lower
Apr 8, 2025
Lower · Passed
Amended
lower
Apr 8, 2025
House · Passed
House Vote: pass (144-2)
house
Mar 25, 2025
Lower · Passed
Committee report sent to Calendars
lower
Mar 25, 2025
Lower · Passed
Committee report distributed
lower
Mar 19, 2025
Lower · Passed
Reported favorably w/o amendment(s)
lower
Mar 12, 2025
Lower · Passed
Left pending in committee
lower
Mar 12, 2025
Lower · Passed
Testimony taken/registration(s) recorded in committee
lower
Mar 4, 2025
Committee
Referred to Delivery of Government Efficiency
lower
Mar 4, 2025
Introduced
Read first time
lower
1 primary · 5 co-sponsors
Sponsors
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