HB 491 Texas House · 89th Legislature (2025)

Relating to certain civil penalties collected for violations of laws regulating massage therapy.

This bill changes where civil penalties from massage therapy violations are deposited. If a county attorney collects penalties under the law, the funds go to the county's general fund. If a city attorney collects penalties, the funds go to the city's general fund. The bill takes effect September 1, 2025. (Procedural bill affecting fund allocation, not regulatory changes.)

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

May 2025

House Passage

Apr 2025

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Feb 28, 2025 Last action May 23, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced → Engrossed · 3 edits · Apr 25, 2025

MINOR

The bill text was reformatted with new metadata headers and spacing, but the substantive legal content remains unchanged. The core provision regarding civil penalty deposits for massage therapy violations was preserved, with one minor addition specifying that funds must be used for combatting human trafficking.

Scope change

No substantive change to the bill's scope or applicability; only formatting and metadata updates were applied.

TECHNICAL

New metadata headers including bill number, sponsor names, and version information were added at the beginning of the document.

Line breaks and spacing were significantly altered throughout the document, changing the visual layout but not the legal meaning.

REQUIREMENT

A clarifying phrase was inserted specifying that deposited civil penalties must be used only for combatting human trafficking, though this appears to be a formatting artifact rather than a substantive policy change.

Floor votes · House Apr 24, 2025

How they voted

141–0

Passed · 4 other

Total votes 145

Apr 24, 2025

D Democratic58

55 Yea 3

94% Yea

R Republican87

86 Yea 1

98% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

May 23, 2025

Upper · Passed

Left pending in committee

upper

May 23, 2025

Upper · Passed

Testimony taken in committee

upper

Apr 29, 2025

Committee

Referred to Business & Commerce

upper

Apr 29, 2025

Introduced

Read first time

upper

Apr 28, 2025

Introduced

Received from the House

upper

Apr 25, 2025

Lower · Passed

Passed

lower

Apr 24, 2025

Lower · Passed

Passed to engrossment

lower

Apr 15, 2025

Lower · Passed

Committee report sent to Calendars

lower

Apr 14, 2025

Lower · Passed

Committee report distributed

lower

Apr 1, 2025

Lower · Passed

Reported favorably as substituted

lower

Mar 25, 2025

Lower · Passed

Left pending in committee

lower

Mar 25, 2025

Lower · Passed

Testimony taken/registration(s) recorded in committee

lower

Feb 28, 2025

Committee

Referred to Licensing & Administrative Procedures

lower

Feb 28, 2025

Introduced

Read first time

lower

4 primary · 0 co-sponsors