2025 · Regular session · House bill
HB2788
HB2788 excludes specified fraud-detection information held by the Texas Workforce Commission from public-information access under the Texas Public Information Act.
Official caption: Relating to the disclosure of certain fraud detection information obtained in the administration of the unemployment compensation system.
Official report lists House author(s): Button, Bell, Keith, Longoria, Villalobos, Richardson. 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.
- HB2788 excludes specified fraud-detection information held by the Texas Workforce Commission from public-information access under the Texas Public Information Act.
- The definition includes risk assessments, reports, data, protocols, technology specifications, manuals, instructions, investigative materials, crossmatches, mental impressions and communications—but the connection to revealing fraud-prevention, investigation or evaluation methods matters.
- Covered information is designated not public information for purposes of Government Code Chapter 552 and expressly excepted from Section 552.021's public-availability requirement.
What does it do?
HB2788 excludes specified fraud-detection information held by the Texas Workforce Commission from public-information access under the Texas Public Information Act. It took effect June 20, 2025. The exclusion concerns information that may reveal how TWC prevents, investigates or evaluates fraud while administering the unemployment-compensation system, including benefits and unemployment taxes. Final law
The definition includes risk assessments, reports, data, protocols, technology specifications, manuals, instructions, investigative materials, crossmatches, mental impressions and communications—but the connection to revealing fraud-prevention, investigation or evaluation methods matters. The statute is not phrased as a blanket exemption for every TWC record or every government agency’s fraud records.
Covered information is designated not public information for purposes of Government Code Chapter 552 and expressly excepted from Section 552.021’s public-availability requirement. HB2788 adds a separate Labor Code Section 301.087; it does not change unemployment-benefit eligibility, establish a new fraud offense or create a new criminal penalty. Existing rules protecting identifying unemployment and job-matching information remain separate. Public-availability provision; existing confidentiality framework
What changed along the way?
The filed bill proposed adding fraud-detection information to the existing unemployment/job-matching confidentiality section. The House committee substitute instead created the standalone Section 301.087, expressly added the public-availability exception and used the final definition tied to administration of Subtitle A. The filed text also incorrectly identified its proposed Section 301.085 amendment as Government Code; the enacted text expressly places the new section in the Labor Code. Filed text; all versions
The committee, House-passed, Senate committee and final operative texts match. The amendment index lists no floor amendments. The House passed it 141–6, with one present but not voting; the Senate passed it 31–0. Those votes met the immediate-effect requirement, and the governor signed it June 20, 2025. Official 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?
Keeping fraud-screening methods from public release may make them harder to evade and help protect unemployment funds. The tradeoff is reduced public access: claimants, reporters and researchers may be unable to obtain covered methods and analytical material through ordinary public-records requests. The act does not establish how much fraud will be prevented or assess any particular detection system’s accuracy or fairness.
The May 9 fiscal note, the latest listed, anticipates no significant state or local fiscal effect and assumes costs fit existing resources. The March 25 and April 2 notes agree. No quantified multiyear estimate or projected fraud-recovery amount is provided.
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.
