← Back to bills and search results
2025 · Regular session · House bill
HB2563
HB2563 directs the Texas A&M Forest Service to administer a temporary self-insurance program for Texas-resident certified and insured prescribed-burn managers.
Official caption: Relating to establishment of the temporary certified and insured prescribed burn manager self-insurance pool; authorizing a fee.
Official report lists House author(s): 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.
- HB2563 directs the Texas A&M Forest Service to administer a temporary self-insurance program for Texas-resident certified and insured prescribed-burn managers.
- The pool must provide the minimum liability coverage referenced in Natural Resources Code 153.082: $1 million for a single occurrence and $2 million in the policy-period aggregate.
- A manager must apply in writing in the required form.
- The service may charge a reasonable participation fee and must establish reasonable cost sharing, including deductibles high enough to discourage minor-loss claims.
- The fund is held in a depository selected by the Texas A&M System regents under the referenced higher-education rules.
What does it do?
HB2563 directs the Texas A&M Forest Service to administer a temporary self-insurance program for Texas-resident certified and insured prescribed-burn managers. Prescribed burning is deliberately managed fire; this pool covers liability arising from participating managers’ prescribed burns, not all fire-related business risks. The service must evaluate risks, maintain loss-prevention measures and administer coverage, and may hire staff and adopt rules. Final law, new Insurance Code Sections 2155.001–2155.003.
The pool must provide the minimum liability coverage referenced in Natural Resources Code 153.082: $1 million for a single occurrence and $2 million in the policy-period aggregate. It cannot provide workers’ compensation, automobile liability, errors-and-omissions or professional-liability coverage. Coverage is funded only from available fund money; the state’s liability for all covered losses is limited to fund assets, with no additional state liability for those losses. A policy limit is therefore not an unlimited state guarantee. Final law, Sections 2155.003 and 2155.007; referenced coverage minimums.
A manager must apply in writing in the required form. The director must approve participation when the manager meets the stated certification condition, within the program’s Texas-resident scope. To continue participating, the manager must complete an offered or sanctioned wildfire-suppression course covering coordination when a prescribed burn escapes and assistance with naturally occurring wildfires. The service must develop the course consistently with the referenced certification standards and keep completion records. The law does not replace the underlying certification process. Final law, Sections 2155.004–2155.005; certification law.
The service may charge a reasonable participation fee and must establish reasonable cost sharing, including deductibles high enough to discourage minor-loss claims. It must consider comparable insurance prices and adjust premiums using reported burn information. For every prescribed burn, participating managers must report acreage by county, the date, and whether there was a financial loss or wildfire response. Excessive claims may lead to removal from the pool or referral to the Prescribed Burning Board for discipline. No premium, deductible or numerical “excessive claims” threshold is fixed in the act. Final law, Sections 2155.008–2155.010.
The fund is held in a depository selected by the Texas A&M System regents under the referenced higher-education rules. Its sources are legislative appropriations not exceeding $25 million, fees and interest; its money is restricted to coverage and program administration. The service may hire an attorney to represent a covered manager in a covered liability action; the attorney general may not provide that representation. The program expires September 1, 2040, when money not needed for claims transfers to the statewide fire contingency account. The act itself took effect September 1, 2025. Final law, Sections 2155.006, 2155.011–2155.012 and effective-date section; receiving fire account.
What changed along the way?
The House committee substitute made several material changes to the introduced proposal: it expressly limited the pool to Texas-resident certified and insured managers; made indemnification mandatory within the coverage terms; removed permission to reduce coverage below statutory minimums because of fund liquidity; changed the director’s equipment/safety and participation provisions from establishing requirements to recommending them; and tied participation approval to certification instead of approving each burn against those proposed requirements. Introduced; House substitute.
The substitute also allowed Forest Service-sanctioned training, replaced the proposed National Wildfire Coordinating Group training reference with the state prescribed-burn certification standards, required acreage reporting by county, clarified that the fund caps state liability for all losses, and changed the excessive-claims options from termination and referral to termination or referral. Those changes survived: the House substitute and engrossed text match, and the Senate and enrolled versions retain their substance. The amendment index lists no individual amendments; these were committee-substitute changes, not floor amendments. Engrossed; Senate printing; text index; amendment index; 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?
Participating burn managers gain a statutory alternative source of liability coverage; landowners using their services may benefit from access to insured prescribed burning. Managers face premiums, deductibles, training and reporting duties, while the service administers the program. People seeking compensation for covered harm must account for the coverage terms and fund-asset limit. This law does not guarantee affordable premiums, a claim payment exceeding available assets, or that a particular applicant is currently enrolled. Final law.
The Legislative Budget Board’s May 14, 2025 engrossed fiscal note says the fiscal effect could not be determined, because participation and prescribed-burn loss data were unknown. It assumes premiums cover annual operating costs and reports the Forest Service’s estimate that an initial $6 million reserve would be needed. Earlier introduced and substitute notes make the same assumptions and anticipate no local-government fiscal effect. The $6 million is an estimated reserve need, not an appropriation in HB2563. Engrossed fiscal note; introduced note; substitute note.
Separate budget funding: SB1, Article IX, Section 18.19, appropriated $2 million in fiscal year 2026 and $2 million in fiscal year 2027 to implement this legislation, contingent on its enactment. HB2563 was enacted, and the governor’s SB1 veto proclamation did not remove this rider. That $4 million biennial appropriation is distinct from the $6 million reserve estimate and the $25 million statutory ceiling; none establishes the fund’s current cash balance, claims experience or enrollment availability. SB1, printed page IX-111 / PDF page 1005; SB1 veto proclamation.
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.
