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

HB3479

HB3479 renames the Carrizo Cane Eradication Program as the Rio Grande Vegetative Management Program and broadens its statutory task.

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Official caption: Relating to the Rio Grande vegetative management program.

Signed by governorSource-checked explanation published

Official report lists House author(s): Morgan, McLaughlin, Hayes, Cain. 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.

HB3479 renames the Carrizo Cane Eradication Program as the Rio Grande Vegetative Management Program and broadens its statutory task.
The change is both practical and broader in scope: it replaces an eradication objective with management and adds other obstructive noxious vegetation.
The bill took effect June 20, 2025, when the governor signed it.

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What does it do?

HB3479 renames the Carrizo Cane Eradication Program as the Rio Grande Vegetative Management Program and broadens its statutory task. The Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board must develop and implement a program to manage Carrizo cane and other noxious vegetation that impedes border security along the Rio Grande River. The former provision directed the board to eradicate Carrizo cane along the river. Final law

The change is both practical and broader in scope: it replaces an eradication objective with management and adds other obstructive noxious vegetation. It is not an instruction to clear every plant along the river. The short act adds no specific treatment method, funding amount, private-land entry power or new penalty.

The bill took effect June 20, 2025, when the governor signed it. Both chambers met the required two-thirds vote for immediate effect; September 1 was only the fallback date in the text. Official history

What changed along the way?

The introduced, House committee, engrossed, Senate committee and enrolled texts were compared. The operative policy remained the same throughout: rename the program, change eradicate to manage, and include other noxious vegetation impeding border security. Both committees reported the bill without amendments, and the amendment index lists none. No narrower or broader amendment proposal was incorporated later. Introduced text · Text versions · Amendment index

This is a change to an existing program, not creation of the agency’s first vegetation-control effort. The prior statutory provision was added in 2015; its historical text covered Carrizo cane specifically.

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?

Border law-enforcement personnel may benefit from improved access and visibility where obstructive vegetation is managed. Nearby landowners and water users could also benefit from appropriate invasive-plant control. The agency describes potential ecological and water-conservation benefits and a mix of biological, chemical, mechanical and other controls; those are program approaches and anticipated benefits, not methods mandated or results proven by HB3479. Its program page describes landowner participation as voluntary. Agency program information

Treatment and maintenance still require staff, contractors and resources. Both fiscal notes anticipated no additional fiscal implication for state or local government, assuming bill-related costs could be absorbed with existing resources. That does not mean vegetation management itself is free. The act makes no new appropriation, and older program funding estimates on agency materials should not be mistaken for money appropriated by this bill. Fiscal note

Review boundary: This explains the enacted program change, not a finding that a particular tract has been treated or that predicted security, water or ecological benefits have occurred. The agency page supplies context and contains older program language; the enacted text controls the new statutory scope.

Official sources

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