2025 · Regular session · House bill
HB143
HB143 adds a response process for visibly dangerous electrical lines, poles and related equipment serving oil and gas wells or associated surface facilities.
Official caption: Relating to the authority of the Railroad Commission of Texas and the Public Utility Commission of Texas to address a failure by an operator to maintain an electrical power line serving a well site or certain surface facilities in accordance with the National Electrical Code.
Official report lists House author(s): King, Darby, Hunter, Fairly, Anchía. This does not identify sponsors or amendment drafters.
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.
- HB143 adds a response process for visibly dangerous electrical lines, poles and related equipment serving oil and gas wells or associated surface facilities.
- Reporting and deadlines: a landowner or lessee who discovers equipment that fails the stated standards must give written notice to the Railroad Commission, the agency regulating oil and gas operations.
- The Railroad Commission must inform the landowner about the condition and the agencies' response within 10 days of discovery, or within 30 days if it lacked the landowner's contact information when it discovered the condition.
- Response options: request a state-fire-marshal or local-authority inspection and require the operator to mitigate identified dangers; request disconnection by the serving electric utility, cooperative or municipal utility at the point where its equipment meets customer-owned equipment; or take other necessary and appropriate action.
- The changes apply only to inspections on or after September 1, 2025.
What does it do?
HB143 adds a response process for visibly dangerous electrical lines, poles and related equipment serving oil and gas wells or associated surface facilities. Operators must prevent and fix readily observable pole defects, including damage, deterioration, leaning and cracking. The existing requirement to follow the state-adopted National Electrical Code for the power lines remains; HB143 is not the first law imposing that code requirement. Final law; state electrical-code guidance.
Reporting and deadlines: a landowner or lessee who discovers equipment that fails the stated standards must give written notice to the Railroad Commission, the agency regulating oil and gas operations. If the commission discovers a readily observable noncompliant condition posing a fire or injury risk during an inspection or after receiving such notice, it must notify the Public Utility Commission and the operator within three days. Its notice must describe the condition and say whether the well is abandoned. Final law, Section 91.019(b)–(c).
The Railroad Commission must inform the landowner about the condition and the agencies’ response within 10 days of discovery, or within 30 days if it lacked the landowner’s contact information when it discovered the condition. Separately, the agencies must act to resolve the condition within 10 days of the Railroad Commission’s discovery through the options specified in the law. The longer landowner-notice deadline does not extend that response deadline. Final law, Section 91.019(d)–(e).
Response options: request a state-fire-marshal or local-authority inspection and require the operator to mitigate identified dangers; request disconnection by the serving electric utility, cooperative or municipal utility at the point where its equipment meets customer-owned equipment; or take other necessary and appropriate action. The law does not require automatic disconnection for every defect. If service is disconnected under this provision, it must be restored when the Railroad Commission notifies the supplier that the condition is resolved. Commission representatives may enter public or private property only as necessary for inspections under this section. Final law, Section 91.019(e)–(g).
The changes apply only to inspections on or after September 1, 2025. This is a targeted oil-and-gas-site law, not a general household wiring inspection program. Effective date and applicability; official history.
What changed along the way?
The House substitute added written landowner/lessee reports, a fire-or-injury risk condition, notification deadlines, landowner notice and service-restoration language. It also proposed an alternative set of utility maintenance rules for certain utility operators. That alternative did not survive. Introduced text; House substitute.
The Senate substitute retained the existing electrical-code requirement, added explicit pole-maintenance duties and a “readily observable” condition, and made written reporting a duty for a landowner or lessee who discovers noncompliance. It reset the response clock to the Railroad Commission’s discovery rather than the utility commission’s receipt of notice; added the 30-day contact-information exception for landowner notice; expressly included cooperatives and municipal utilities; specified the disconnection point; and limited inspection entry to what is necessary. The House concurred, and the Senate policy text matches the final law. No separate floor amendments are listed. Senate substitute; all versions; 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?
Potential benefits: landowners, workers and nearby communities gain a defined process for addressing visible electrical hazards that could cause fires or injuries. Notice and restoration duties make the response more predictable, but the bill cannot guarantee prevention of every fire or completion of physical repairs within a particular time.
Burdens: operators bear maintenance and mitigation responsibilities and may lose power while a hazard is addressed. Landowners and lessees have a written-reporting obligation when they discover noncompliance. Utilities, regulators and local inspectors may need to coordinate inspections, disconnection and restoration.
Fiscal estimate: the latest May 24 note estimates about $1.16 million in fiscal 2026 and $1.08 million in fiscal 2027 from the dedicated Oil and Gas Regulation and Cleanup Account, with 11 additional state positions. Its $0 net general-revenue-related figure does not mean no public cost: it assumes the dedicated account pays, with general revenue needed if that account is insufficient. Local-government costs are undetermined, and HB143 itself makes no appropriation. An earlier engrossed-version estimate was substantially larger and is not the final-version estimate. Latest fiscal note.
The fiscal note describes some deadlines by reference to utility-commission receipt or discovery. The enrolled statute instead anchors the deadlines described above to Railroad Commission discovery; this explanation follows the statute for legal obligations.
Review boundary: checked the full law, history, all five bill versions, amendment index, adopted Senate substitute, all six listed fiscal notes and the preexisting electrical-code requirement. This is not an engineering review of the National Electrical Code or a finding that any particular line or pole is safe or compliant.
Official sources
- Bill history and latest recorded action
- Bill versions, analyses and fiscal notes
- Action history and votes
- Amendment index
Catalog report retrieved 2026-10-25. Check the official record for corrections or later changes.