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

HB2440

HB2440 prohibits a state agency from banning or otherwise restricting a motor vehicle’s sale or use based on its energy source.

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Official caption: Relating to the authority of a state agency or the state's air quality state implementation plan to impose certain restrictions with respect to a motor vehicle, including a motor vehicle powered by an engine.

Signed by governorSource-checked explanation published

Official report lists House author(s): Curry, Toth. 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.

HB2440 prohibits a state agency from banning or otherwise restricting a motor vehicle’s sale or use based on its energy source.
The act separately bars a provision in Texas’s air-quality State Implementation Plan that restricts a person’s ability to purchase any motor vehicle, including one powered by an engine.
The act took effect September 1, 2025.

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What does it do?

HB2440 prohibits a state agency from banning or otherwise restricting a motor vehicle’s sale or use based on its energy source. It also prohibits a state agency from banning a person’s ownership of an engine-powered motor vehicle. The law defines an energy source as any fuel or power source used to power an engine, and an engine as a machine converting an energy source into mechanical force and motion, including an internal-combustion engine or generator. It is not written solely as a protection for gasoline-powered vehicles. Final law, Section 1.

The act separately bars a provision in Texas’s air-quality State Implementation Plan that restricts a person’s ability to purchase any motor vehicle, including one powered by an engine. That plan is the state’s comprehensive plan for cleaner air and meeting federal air-quality standards. Final law; TCEQ explanation of the plan.

The act took effect September 1, 2025. Its operative limits concern state agencies and the state air-quality plan. It does not itself rewrite federal law, establish a vehicle subsidy or repeal every vehicle-safety, registration or emissions rule. Whether a particular restriction is “based on” the energy source would require examining that restriction; this briefing does not decide a hypothetical enforcement dispute or infer a blanket rule for every local ordinance. Final law, Sections 1–2; official history.

What changed along the way?

The introduced bill already barred energy-source-based state restrictions on vehicle sale or use, but its ownership clause specifically mentioned internal-combustion engines. The House committee substitute added definitions of “energy source” and “engine,” broadened the ownership clause to engine-powered vehicles under that definition, and similarly changed the engine example in the air-quality-plan clause. It also changed “may not” to “shall not.” The general purchase restriction in the plan already covered any motor vehicle. Introduced text; House substitute.

The substitute’s approach remained in the engrossed, Senate committee and final texts, with only printing/certification differences later. The amendment index lists no amendments: the changes came through the committee substitute, not a floor amendment. Text versions; 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?

Vehicle buyers, owners and sellers gain a statutory limit on the specified state restrictions. State agencies lose the option of using those restrictions in regulating vehicles or preparing the air-quality plan. This preserves a form of consumer choice while narrowing regulatory tools; the act does not measure changes in vehicle prices, emissions, health outcomes or fuel demand. 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 April 21 introduced and April 28 substitute notes agree. These budget projections do not establish that the policy has no environmental or private economic effects. Engrossed fiscal note; introduced fiscal note; substitute fiscal note.

Official sources

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