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
93–36
Passed · 16 other
Total votes 145
May 10, 2025
D
Democratic59
59% Nay
R
Republican86
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
Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Carrie Isaac
RRepublican
P
Cecil Bell
RRepublican
P
David Spiller
RRepublican
P
Stan Gerdes
RRepublican
P
Terry Wilson
RRepublican
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