Legislation tracker

Legislation

Every jurisdiction in this catalog has entries whose figures move when a bill passes, whose act takes effect on a later date, or whose program is repealed while its agency keeps advertising it. This page watches each jurisdiction's law, follows a bill through its own jurisdiction's process where its stages are recorded, and names the catalog entries each instrument touches.

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Choosing a jurisdiction overrides the level. Stage is where the bill stands in its own jurisdiction's process. Direction is whether it expands or restricts benefits, recorded only where the reason can be read from the bill. Outcome is whether the instrument became law; catalog status is whether this catalog has been reconciled against it. None of this is legal advice, and a tracked item is a pointer to the official record rather than a substitute for reading it.

4 instruments in Texas. Tracked across 51 jurisdictions. Every other jurisdiction on the board is still watched by hand.

A bill that died is listed only where a guide, an agency, or a news story has described it as current law. That is the failure that puts a number in front of a veteran which no assessor, registrar, or school will honor.

TexasState

HB 2508 Total homestead exemption for the surviving spouse of a veteran who died of a presumptive condition

Catalog reconciledEnactedProgram created

Signed 2025-06-20Takes effect 2026-01-01

Introduced Done, 2025-02-05, step 1 of 6
In committee Done, 2025-03-17, step 2 of 6
Passed one chamber Done, 2025-04-30, step 3 of 6
Passed both chambers Done, 2025-05-25, step 4 of 6
Signed by the governor Done, 2025-06-20, step 5 of 6
In effect Done, 2026-01-01, step 6 of 6

Expands benefits Created a total homestead exemption for the surviving spouse of a veteran who died of a presumptive condition, regardless of the rating at death.

Added Tax Code section 11.136. The voters approved the enabling constitutional amendment as Proposition 7 on November 4, 2025 and the exemption runs from the 2026 tax year. The rating at death does not matter and neither does when the veteran died, so a spouse turned away under the older sections should be sent back.

HB 5629 (Acts 2025, 89th Leg., R.S., ch. 686) Required agencies to issue licences to military applicants holding a licence similar in scope, and widened the fee waiver

Catalog reconciledEnactedScope changed Figure moved

Signed 2025-06-20Takes effect 2025-09-01

Introduced Done, 2025-03-14, step 1 of 6
In committee Done, 2025-04-07, step 2 of 6
Passed one chamber Done, 2025-05-16, step 3 of 6
Passed both chambers Done, 2025-05-27, step 4 of 6
Signed by the governor Done, 2025-06-20, step 5 of 6
In effect Done, 2025-09-01, step 6 of 6

Expands benefits Requires agencies to issue a licence to a military applicant holding a similar out-of-state licence, waives application and exam fees for every military applicant, and shortens processing to ten business days.

For applications filed from September 1, 2025: an agency "shall issue" a licence to a service member, veteran or spouse holding an out-of-state licence similar in scope of practice and in good standing, replacing the substantially-equivalent test; processing within 10 business days instead of 30; application and exam fees waived for every military applicant; practice on an out-of-state licence for the whole Texas assignment instead of three years, on an affidavit with a 10-business-day agency answer.

HB 346 (Acts 2025, 89th Leg., R.S.) Made the new veteran-owned business fee waiver and franchise tax exemption permanent

Catalog reconciledEnactedScope changed

Signed 2025-06-12Takes effect 2025-09-01

Introduced Done, 2024-11-12, step 1 of 6
In committee Done, 2025-02-28, step 2 of 6
Passed one chamber Done, 2025-05-10, step 3 of 6
Passed both chambers Done, 2025-05-30, step 4 of 6
Signed by the governor Done, 2025-06-12, step 5 of 6
In effect Done, 2025-09-01, step 6 of 6

Expands benefits Removed the January 1, 2026 sunset so the formation fee waiver and five-year franchise tax exemption for new veteran-owned businesses continue.

Repealed the sections of SB 938 (2021) that would have repealed Business Organizations Code 12.005 and Tax Code 171.0005 on January 1, 2026, so the $300 formation fee waiver and five-year franchise tax exemption for a business wholly owned by honorably discharged veterans continue. Signed June 12, 2025; effective September 1, 2025. This, not SB 524, is the act that did it.

SB 524 Would have repealed the 2026 sunset on the veteran-owned business exemption; died in the House

Catalog reconciledDid not pass

89th Legislature, 2025 Regular Session

Introduced Done, 2024-12-04, step 1 of 6
In committee Done, 2025-02-03, step 2 of 6
Passed one chamber Done, 2025-05-19, step 3 of 6
Died Stopped here, step 4 of 6
Signed by the governor Not reached, step 5 of 6
In effect Not reached, step 6 of 6

Expands benefits Would have removed the 2026 sunset on the franchise tax exemption for new veteran-owned businesses.

Passed the Senate and was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee on May 21, 2025, where it died. Tracked because this catalog, like the bill analysis still online, credited it with making the exemption permanent. HB 346 did that instead.

Sponsor

Touches Tex. Tax Code § 171.0005

Catalog entry

Texas New Veteran-Owned Business Fee and Franchise Tax Exemption

Official record

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