HB 644 Texas House · 89th Legislature (2025)

Relating to the civil liability of certain businesses in connection with allowing concealed handguns on the business premises.

HB 644 protects businesses from civil lawsuits if they allow licensed concealed handgun carriers on their premises. It directly affects Texas businesses (like restaurants or retail stores) and license holders who carry concealed handguns legally under Texas law. The bill states that simply not posting "no concealed weapons" notices - rather than requiring explicit written or verbal permission - counts as allowing concealed carry, removing liability for damages from lawful concealed carry. The law takes effect September 1, 2025, and does not apply to incidents that occurred before that date.
Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Mar 2025
Committee Review
May 2025
House Passage
May 2025
Senate Passage
Governor
Introduced Mar 4, 2025 Last action May 12, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Engrossed · 3 edits · May 10, 2025
MINOR
The bill text was reformatted and reorganized with added metadata headers and spacing changes, but the substantive legal content regarding business liability for allowing concealed handguns remains identical to the original version. No policy changes were made to the actual provisions.
TECHNICAL

Added metadata headers including bill number, sponsor information, and version identifiers at the top of the document

Reorganized line breaks and spacing throughout the document while preserving all original legal text

Removed original page numbers and formatting artifacts from the introduced version

Floor votes · House May 10, 2025

How they voted

9336
Passed · 16 other
Total votes 145
May 10, 2025
D Democratic59
12 Yea 35 Nay 12
59% Nay
R Republican86
81 Yea 1 Nay 4
94% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
27
Key actions
7
Committee
7
May 12, 2025
Committee
Referred to State Affairs
upper
May 12, 2025
Introduced
Read first time
upper
May 12, 2025
Introduced
Received from the House
upper
May 10, 2025
Lower · Passed
Passed
lower
May 9, 2025
Lower · Passed
Passed to engrossment
lower
Apr 3, 2025
Lower · Passed
Committee report sent to Calendars
lower
Apr 3, 2025
Lower · Passed
Committee report distributed
lower
Mar 26, 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 Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence
lower
Mar 4, 2025
Introduced
Read first time
lower
5 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors