2025 · Regular session · House bill
HB3463
HB3463 allows a written payment demand to be sent by email or text message for a particular theft-of-service offense: intentionally or knowingly obtaining a paid service by agreeing to pay, then failing to pay in full after recei…
Official caption: Relating to the prosecution of the offense of theft of service.
Official report lists House author(s): Walle, Moody, Cook. 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.
- HB3463 allows a written payment demand to be sent by email or text message for a particular theft-of-service offense: intentionally or knowingly obtaining a paid service by agreeing to pay, then failing to pay in full after receiving a demand.
- The demand must use the appropriate contact information shown in the rental or service agreement or the service provider's records.
- The change is deliberately limited.
- Signed June 20, 2025, the law took effect September 1, 2025.
What does it do?
HB3463 allows a written payment demand to be sent by email or text message for a particular theft-of-service offense: intentionally or knowingly obtaining a paid service by agreeing to pay, then failing to pay in full after receiving a demand. Registered or certified mail with return receipt requested and commercial delivery remain available. The offense still requires intent to avoid payment for a service the person knows is provided only for compensation; an unpaid bill alone is not automatically a crime. Final law · Penal Code Section 31.04
The demand must use the appropriate contact information shown in the rental or service agreement or the service provider’s records. For service obtained using a check or similar payment order, the provision also identifies address information on that instrument or the bank’s records. A compliant notice under the new provision is presumed received no later than two days after it is sent. That receipt presumption does not itself prove all elements of a crime.
The change is deliberately limited. Separate notice rules supporting specified presumptions of intent—including failure to pay within 10 days after a demand and specified failures to return rental property—still require registered/certified mail or commercial delivery. HB3463 does not make a text sufficient for every statutory presumption or eliminate the retained five-day presumed-receipt rule for specified rental-return notices. Existing offense classifications based on the value of the service remain unchanged.
Signed June 20, 2025, the law took effect September 1, 2025. If any element of an offense occurred before then, the former law governs. Official history
What changed along the way?
The introduced bill and House versions would have allowed email, texts or another form of written communication. The Senate committee substitute removed that open-ended final option. The enacted law therefore lists four delivery methods, not any written method a sender chooses.
Although the amendment index says there are no amendments, the official history records Senate amendments and House concurrence. The separate 13-page Senate amendments printing contains the adopted substitute, which was read and compared against the enrolled text. The House concurred May 28; the narrowed Senate language became law. Introduced text · Senate amendments printing · All text versions · Amendment 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?
Workers and businesses owed payment for completed services gain less costly, more familiar ways to send a qualifying demand. Prosecutors may be able to establish the notice element using electronic records. Recipients need to take qualifying messages seriously, while retaining the protection that the state must prove the offense’s required intent and other elements. A disputed invoice is not resolved merely by sending a text.
The final available fiscal note anticipated no significant state or local fiscal impact, including correctional, enforcement and prosecution costs. The criminal-justice assessments recognized that expanded coverage could increase supervision or confinement demand, but did not expect a significant impact. They do not measure actual collections recovered or later prosecution results. Final fiscal note · Senate criminal-justice assessment
Review boundary: This describes the enacted notice change, not whether a particular debt, demand or disputed service establishes criminal liability. Current statutory links can include later changes; retained requirements were checked against August 31, 2025 text.
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.
