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2025 · Regular session · House bill
HB2355
HB2355 expressly includes law-enforcement reports sent to the attorney general for crime-victim compensation claims in the records protected by Article 56B.058(b).
Official caption: Relating to the disclosure or release of certain information received by the attorney general regarding an application for compensation from the crime victims' compensation fund.
Official report lists House author(s): Fairly. 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.
- HB2355 expressly includes law-enforcement reports sent to the attorney general for crime-victim compensation claims in the records protected by Article 56B.058(b).
- This is a clarification of the records covered by an existing protection, not a new ban on releasing every police report wherever it is held.
- The exceptions remain important: Article 56B.058(c) allows release in specified circumstances, including a court order for good cause that finds the information unavailable elsewhere; consent from the victim, claimant or information provider; authorized program work, audits, claim reviews, fraud prevention and recovery of funds; and enforcement of the compensation law.
- The public-information exception in Government Code 552.132(c) also remains: for the specified compensation awards, the recipient’s name and award amount become public as of the award date.
What does it do?
HB2355 expressly includes law-enforcement reports sent to the attorney general for crime-victim compensation claims in the records protected by Article 56B.058(b). That provision generally excludes the attorney general’s compensation records from public-information disclosure and from discovery, subpoenas and other compelled release, but preserves its specified exceptions. The law took effect September 1, 2025. Final law, Sections 1–2; official history.
This is a clarification of the records covered by an existing protection, not a new ban on releasing every police report wherever it is held. Existing Article 56B.054(f) requires a law-enforcement agency, on the attorney general’s request, to supply reports—including witness statements and criminal-history information—within 14 business days to help determine compensation eligibility and extent. HB2355 does not create that deadline or change compensation amounts or eligibility. Reports provision; final law.
The exceptions remain important. Article 56B.058(c) allows release in specified circumstances, including a court order for good cause that finds the information unavailable elsewhere; consent from the victim, claimant or information provider; authorized program work, audits, claim reviews, fraud prevention and recovery of funds; and enforcement of the compensation law. Its criminal-proceeding subpoena exception covers the completed application form with protected identifying information redacted, not automatic access to the whole investigative file; a court may separately order additional disclosure under the article. Information made confidential by another law is outside this article’s permission framework. Full disclosure and use provision.
The public-information exception in Government Code 552.132(c) also remains: for the specified compensation awards, the recipient’s name and award amount become public as of the award date. A separate 2025 law, SB2601, expanded that section to cover landowner compensation; that was not a change made by HB2355. Government Code 552.132; SB2601 final law, Section 4.
What changed along the way?
The introduced bill would have added a public-information-release restriction directly to the provision requiring police to send reports to the attorney general. The House committee substitute instead placed the express reference to those reports in the broader disclosure-and-use provision, retaining its public-information and legal-compulsion exceptions. That substitute became the final approach; the engrossed, Senate committee and enrolled texts make no later substantive change. Introduced text; House substitute; text versions.
The official amendment index lists no amendments. The change described above was a committee substitution, not an indexed floor amendment. Amendment index; final law.
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?
Victims, witnesses and agencies gain clearer statutory treatment of sensitive reports supplied for compensation decisions. People seeking those records through the attorney general face the existing protection and must fit an applicable exception; HB2355 does not settle whether the same record can be obtained from another custodian under another law. These are privacy and access-to-information effects, not a new cash benefit. Final law.
The Legislative Budget Board’s May 19, 2025 engrossed fiscal note anticipates no significant state or local-government fiscal implication, with costs absorbable using existing resources. The March 31 introduced and April 9 substitute fiscal notes agree. They do not quantify the value of privacy protections or the costs to individual records requesters. The two criminal-justice impact statements anticipate no significant correctional-resource effect. Engrossed fiscal note; introduced fiscal note; substitute fiscal note; introduced impact statement; substitute impact statement.
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.
