HB3185

HB3185 lets a prosecuting attorney demand certain electronic-service records during a cybercrime investigation without first obtaining a judge’s order. The prosecutor must have reasonable cause to believe the account was used in a covered offense, describe the requested items, and set a reasonable deadline. The law took effect September 1, 2025, after the governor signed it June 20. Final law; official history.

This is not authority to investigate every offense through this procedure. “Cybercrime” here means an offense under Penal Code Chapters 31, 32, 33, 33A, 34, 35, 42, 71, 72 or 76 committed using a website or an electronic-service account. The subpoena can request relevant records, including the subscriber’s name and address, telephone or satellite-internet connection records, session times, service duration and type, identifying numbers or network addresses, and payment sources such as bank or credit-card numbers.

The subpoena alone cannot obtain message content, passwords, internet history or group memberships. The act expressly excludes in-transit communications; memberships in internet groups, newsgroups, mailing lists or areas of interest; passwords; and account content, including email, address books, contact or buddy lists, proxy content and browsing history. Disclosure of these excluded materials instead requires a court order or warrant and is required only to the extent other law does not prohibit it.

Federal restrictions still matter. 18 U.S.C. §2703 distinguishes basic subscriber information obtainable with an authorized administrative subpoena from other noncontent records and communication contents. HB3185’s broad reference to relevant records does not make every record obtainable by subpoena alone, or make any court order sufficient for protected contents.

The subpoena must be served under the Texas civil-procedure rules. Before its return date, the recipient can ask an appropriate court in the issuing county to modify or quash it or prohibit disclosure. If no criminal case or proceeding results within a reasonable period, the prosecutor must return or destroy the records as appropriate. Records obtained under the subpoena are confidential and may otherwise be disclosed only as part of a related criminal case. The act does not set a fixed number of days for that retention period.