HB 294 Texas House · 89th Legislature (2025)

Relating to the regulation by a property owners' association of food production on single-family residential lots.

HB 294 prevents municipalities and property owners' associations from banning fruit/vegetable gardening or keeping small numbers of domestic animals (up to six chickens or rabbits) on single-family residential lots. The bill allows local governments to impose reasonable rules on visibility, noise, safety, and sanitation - such as requiring fenced areas, limiting roosters, or setting minimum space requirements (20 sq. ft per chicken, 9 sq. ft per rabbit) - without prohibiting the activities. It specifically excludes condominiums and voids any ordinances violating these provisions. The bill aims to support small-scale food production in residential areas while maintaining community standards.
Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
May 2025
House Passage
May 2025
Senate Passage
Governor
Introduced Feb 27, 2025 Last action May 5, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Engrossed · 5 edits · May 2, 2025
MODERATE
The bill was amended to change its focus from municipalities to property owners' associations, expanding its scope to include HOAs and condo councils. The text was also reformatted to comply with accessibility standards and updated with proper legislative formatting.
Scope change
The bill's scope expanded from applying only to municipalities to also applying to property owners' associations and condominium councils.
SCOPE

Changed the primary regulated entity from municipalities to property owners' associations, allowing HOAs to be subject to the same food production restrictions.

TIMELINE

Added a specific effective date of September 1, 2025 for the new provisions.

ELIGIBILITY

Added exemptions for property owned by the association itself or in common by members, clarifying that restrictions don't apply to shared association land.

ENFORCEMENT

Added provisions clarifying that associations can still regulate shelter size and signage, and can control parking related to cottage food operations.

TECHNICAL

Updated formatting and text to meet WCAG 2.1 accessibility standards and corrected legislative markup.

Floor votes · House May 1, 2025

How they voted

1360
Passed · 7 other
Total votes 143
May 1, 2025
D Democratic57
56 Yea 1
98% Yea
R Republican86
80 Yea 6
93% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
27
Key actions
7
Committee
7
May 5, 2025
Committee
Referred to Local Government
upper
May 5, 2025
Introduced
Read first time
upper
May 5, 2025
Introduced
Received from the House
upper
May 2, 2025
Lower · Passed
Passed
lower
May 1, 2025
Lower · Passed
Passed to engrossment
lower
Apr 1, 2025
Lower · Passed
Committee report sent to Calendars
lower
Mar 31, 2025
Lower · Passed
Committee report distributed
lower
Mar 27, 2025
Lower · Passed
Reported favorably as substituted
lower
Mar 11, 2025
Lower · Passed
Left pending in committee
lower
Mar 11, 2025
Lower · Passed
Testimony taken/registration(s) recorded in committee
lower
Feb 27, 2025
Committee
Referred to Agriculture & Livestock
lower
Feb 27, 2025
Introduced
Read first time
lower
4 primary · 1 co-sponsor

Sponsors