2025 · Regular session · House bill
HB2217
HB2217 requires the governor’s Criminal Justice Division to establish a grant program helping state and local law-enforcement agencies equip vehicles used by peace officers on official duty with bullet-resistant windshields, side…
Official caption: Relating to establishing a grant program to equip motor vehicles used by peace officers with certain bullet-resistant components.
Official report lists House author(s): Wharton, Dyson, Louderback, Guillen, Ashby. 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.
- HB2217 requires the governor’s Criminal Justice Division to establish a grant program helping state and local law-enforcement agencies equip vehicles used by peace officers on official duty with bullet-resistant windshields, side windows, rear windows and door panels.
- The division must set applicant eligibility, application procedures, grant-amount guidelines, evaluation procedures and monitoring rules.
What does it do?
HB2217 requires the governor’s Criminal Justice Division to establish a grant program helping state and local law-enforcement agencies equip vehicles used by peace officers on official duty with bullet-resistant windshields, side windows, rear windows and door panels. It does not require every police vehicle to receive this equipment or guarantee an agency a grant. Final law, Section 1.
The division must set applicant eligibility, application procedures, grant-amount guidelines, evaluation procedures and monitoring rules. A recipient must provide proof of purchase and installation, as applicable, as soon as practicable after spending the grant money. The division may use any available money to implement the program. The law took effect September 1, 2025. Final law, Sections 1–2; official history.
What changed along the way?
The introduced bill, House committee printing, engrossed bill, Senate committee printing and enrolled law contain the same substantive program and effective date. Differences at the end are printing marks and certification material, not policy amendments. The official amendment index says the bill has no amendments. Both committees reported it without amendments; there is no rejected floor proposal to summarize in that index. Text versions; amendment index; introduced text; final text.
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?
Participating agencies could receive financial help with protective vehicle components, potentially reducing their equipment costs and improving officer protection. The law does not specify a protection rating, award amount or number of vehicles, so it is not a promise of bulletproof vehicles or a measured safety outcome. Agencies receiving money must document purchases and installation; the division must administer and monitor the grants. Final law.
The Legislative Budget Board’s May 27, 2025 fiscal note could not determine total state costs: these depend on grant applications and appropriations. It assumed administration could use existing resources and anticipated no significant local-government fiscal implication. That is an estimate, not a finding that equipment is free. The March 25 introduced-version note reaches the same conclusions. Engrossed fiscal note; introduced fiscal note.
Separately, the enacted supplemental budget, HB500 Section 1.34, appropriates $5 million in general revenue to the governor’s trusteed programs for purposes consistent with HB2217, contingent on HB2217 or similar legislation becoming law. HB2217 did become law. HB500 specifies a two-year spending period beginning on its own effective date. This is a separate appropriation, not a dollar amount written into HB2217, and does not establish how much has actually been awarded or spent. HB500, Sections 1.34 and 13.01; HB2217 history.
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.
