2025 Texas sessionsRegular and both called sessions have ended. This index covers House and Senate bills, not resolutions. Statuses come from official reports.

2025 · Regular session · House bill

HB1130

HB1130 gives qualifying commercial cavern owners and operators a liability protection for recreational or educational activities inside a natural cavern, if the required warning is posted and maintained in a clearly visible place…

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Official caption: Relating to liability of a cavern entity for injuries arising from certain activities.

Signed by governorSource-checked explanation published

Official report lists House author(s): Isaac, Hayes. This does not identify sponsors or amendment drafters.

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Bill explanation published · Version and amendment review scope is stated below · Individual amendment records may not be separately annotated.

Bill highlights

Selected points from the published explanation. Follow each point to its source-linked context; conditions and limits may matter.

HB1130 gives qualifying commercial cavern owners and operators a liability protection for recreational or educational activities inside a natural cavern, if the required warning is posted and maintained in a clearly visible place at each cavern entrance when the injury occurs.
The protected business must own or operate commercial property with a natural cavern designed for these activities. “Participant” excludes the cavern entity's employees.
It also does not limit liability for an injury the business intentionally causes.
The required sign says: “WARNING TEXAS LAW (CHAPTER 75C, CIVIL PRACTICE AND REMEDIES CODE) LIMITS THE LIABILITY OF A CAVERN ENTITY FOR INJURIES OR DEATH OF A CAVERN ACTIVITY PARTICIPANT RESULTING FROM A CAVERN ACTIVITY.” The sign requirement is a condition of this protection, not proof that every injury claim is barred.

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What does it do?

HB1130 gives qualifying commercial cavern owners and operators a liability protection for recreational or educational activities inside a natural cavern, if the required warning is posted and maintained in a clearly visible place at each cavern entrance when the injury occurs. It took effect May 29, 2025 and applies only to causes of action accruing on or after that date. Final law · History

The protected business must own or operate commercial property with a natural cavern designed for these activities. “Participant” excludes the cavern entity’s employees. Covered injury is defined broadly to include bodily injury, emotional distress, death, property damage and other participation-related losses; the provision also addresses damages arising from a participant’s injury.

Posting a sign does not excuse negligence. This new chapter does not limit liability for an injury proximately caused by:

The business’s negligence concerning the safety of the cavern area or participant.
A potentially dangerous condition, including inside the cavern, that the business knew or reasonably should have known about.
Failure to train, or improper training of, an employee actively involved in the cavern area or activity.

It also does not limit liability for an injury the business intentionally causes. Whether a particular claim satisfies an exception depends on its facts. Other liability limitations may still apply; HB1130 says its protection is additional to them.

The required sign says: “WARNING TEXAS LAW (CHAPTER 75C, CIVIL PRACTICE AND REMEDIES CODE) LIMITS THE LIABILITY OF A CAVERN ENTITY FOR INJURIES OR DEATH OF A CAVERN ACTIVITY PARTICIPANT RESULTING FROM A CAVERN ACTIVITY.” The sign requirement is a condition of this protection, not proof that every injury claim is barred.

What changed along the way?

The House committee substitute added the provision preserving other liability limitations; the engrossed bill retained it. The Senate committee substitute added damages arising from participant injuries, expressly included dangerous conditions inside the cavern, and changed the warning from “owner or operator of a cavern” to “cavern entity.” All those changes survive in the final law, whose operative text matches the Senate substitute.

The official amendment index lists no floor amendments. The history’s references to Senate amendments and House concurrence refer to the bill as changed by the Senate; they should not be represented as a separately indexed floor proposal. The House concurred May 19, 2025, by 112–10, with three present but not voting; Senate passage was 31–0. Text versions · Introduced · House substitute · Engrossed · Senate substitute · Amendment index

For the full amendment record, open the official amendment index.

Official bill versions

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

Who could benefit—and who could bear the costs?

Qualifying cavern businesses may face fewer claims within the new protection, while participants and people claiming damages from their injuries may have fewer recovery options for those covered losses. The negligence, known-or-reasonably-knowable danger, training and intentional-injury exceptions remain important. The statute does not establish a dollar cap, guarantee lower insurance premiums or show how courts will decide an individual case.

All six indexed Legislative Budget Board notes anticipate no significant state or local-government fiscal impact, assuming implementation costs can be absorbed with existing resources. They do not quantify private litigation costs, premiums, visitor losses or two-year/five-year government totals. Introduced note · House-substitute note · Engrossed note · Senate-substitute note · Passed-second-house note · Final indexed note

Official sources

Catalog report retrieved 2026-10-25. Check the official record for corrections or later changes.