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

HB1851

HB1851 lets qualifying school districts receive surplus Department of Public Safety vehicles and other law-enforcement equipment through an existing Texas Facilities Commission program.

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Official caption: Relating to the disposition of certain surplus motor vehicles and other law enforcement equipment by the Texas Facilities Commission to certain school districts.

Signed by governorSource-checked explanation published

Official report lists House author(s): Morales, Eddie, Guillen, Holt, González, Mary, Louderback. 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.

HB1851 lets qualifying school districts receive surplus Department of Public Safety vehicles and other law-enforcement equipment through an existing Texas Facilities Commission program.
A district cannot sell the property before the second anniversary of receiving it.
The expansion took effect September 1, 2025.

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What does it do?

HB1851 lets qualifying school districts receive surplus Department of Public Safety vehicles and other law-enforcement equipment through an existing Texas Facilities Commission program. Previously, this particular exception covered municipal and county law-enforcement agencies. A recipient district must be in an economically disadvantaged area, and the commission must determine that the transfer will sufficiently benefit Texas’s efforts to secure its international border and combat transnational crime. The commission may, rather than must, approve a transfer at an agreed price or for other agreed consideration. The law does not promise every district a free vehicle. Final law, Section 1.

A district cannot sell the property before the second anniversary of receiving it. It may use the property only in the performance of law-enforcement duties by peace officers, school resource officers or security personnel described in Education Code 37.081—not as unrestricted transportation or general school equipment. Existing school-law provisions distinguish law-enforcement duties from routine student discipline and school administrative tasks. Government Code 2175.308; Education Code 37.081.

The expansion took effect September 1, 2025. It concerns surplus DPS property under this particular state program, not a new entitlement to federal military surplus or a new grant of police powers. Final law, Sections 1–2.

What changed along the way?

The introduced and House committee versions added school districts and extended the existing two-year resale restriction to them. The sole indexed amendment, offered by Representative Eddie Morales and adopted April 24, added the law-enforcement-use-only restriction. The House-passed, Senate committee and enrolled texts are identical; that restriction became law. There was no Senate or conference rewrite. Amendment text; amendment index; versions; history.

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?

Selected districts may obtain needed school-security vehicles or equipment for less than market purchase costs. They still face the agreed transfer terms and operating costs, and must observe use and resale limits. State agencies could forgo some sale revenue if more vehicles are transferred instead of sold; actual effects depend on participation and commission decisions.

The fiscal estimate changed materially during passage. The March 25 introduced-version note projected a $9.36 million loss to general-revenue-related funds over fiscal years 2026–27, with about $4.68 million annually in general-revenue losses and $2.11 million annually in appropriated-receipts losses shown for each year through 2030. That estimate assumed all vehicles otherwise sold would instead be transferred to districts. It was a projection for the earlier proposal, not an appropriation or a measured loss.

After the use restriction was added, the May 20 fiscal note for the House-passed bill anticipated no significant state fiscal impact. It assumed targeted school law-enforcement participation would not materially change a program then distributing roughly 30 vehicles annually, and said selected school districts could benefit financially. The later note gives no quantified two-year or five-year cost total; “no significant impact” is an assumption-based forecast, not a guarantee of zero cost. The program figures and fees discussed in the earlier note are not new statutory entitlements or limits created by HB1851.

Official sources

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