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

HB2594

HB2594 expands venue—the county where a criminal case may be prosecuted.

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Official caption: Relating to the venue for the prosecution of certain criminal conduct involving theft.

Signed by governorSource-checked explanation published

Official report lists House author(s): Metcalf. 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.

HB2594 expands venue—the county where a criminal case may be prosecuted.
For engaging in organized criminal activity, the law adds the same three venue choices when the underlying offense involves theft of intangible personal property.
The act took effect September 1, 2025 and applies only to prosecution of offenses committed on or after that date.

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What does it do?

HB2594 expands venue—the county where a criminal case may be prosecuted. For theft of intangible personal property, it permits prosecution in the county where the owner resides, where the defendant is apprehended, or to which the defendant is extradited. This supplements the existing theft rules, including prosecution where property was stolen or through or into which it was removed; it does not require every such case to be tried in the victim’s county. Final law, Section 1; theft venue statute.

For engaging in organized criminal activity, the law adds the same three venue choices when the underlying offense involves theft of intangible personal property. When the underlying offense is a felony under Penal Code Chapter 32, covering fraud offenses, it permits prosecution in any victim’s county of residence, the county of apprehension, or the county of extradition. It preserves venue where an act advances an objective of the criminal combination, and the existing Tax Code venue rule for underlying tax felonies. These are venue changes, not a new definition of organized crime or an increase in criminal penalties. Final law, Section 2; organized-crime venue; underlying offense framework.

The act took effect September 1, 2025 and applies only to prosecution of offenses committed on or after that date. If any element occurred before September 1, the former venue law continues to govern that offense. It is the offense date, not merely the date charges are filed, that controls this transition. Final law, Sections 3–4.

What changed along the way?

The introduced bill would have added the victim-residence choices but not the apprehension and extradition choices. It also would have applied the changes according to when an indictment, information or complaint was presented to court. The House committee substitute added the apprehension/extradition options and replaced that filing-date transition with the final offense-date rule. Those changes survived enactment. Introduced proposal; House substitute.

The amendment index lists no separate amendments. The House substitute and engrossed text match substantively; the Senate and enrolled versions retain that policy. The Senate committee reported without amendments. Certified final votes were 147–0 in the House, with two present and not voting, and 31–0 in the Senate. Amendment index; history; engrossed; Senate text; enrolled; text index.

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 and prosecutors gain additional lawful places to bring these cases, potentially reducing obstacles when the property has no physical location or conduct spans counties. Defendants may face prosecution in one of the newly authorized counties. The law does not guarantee prosecution, conviction, repayment or a particular county’s choice to accept a case. Final law.

The Legislative Budget Board’s May 21, 2025 engrossed fiscal note anticipates no significant state or local-government fiscal effect, assuming costs can be absorbed with existing resources. The April 14 introduced and April 25 substitute notes reach the same conclusion. This is a budget estimate, not a promise that every county or litigant will have no additional expense. Engrossed note; introduced note; substitute note.

Official sources

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