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

HB3700

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Official caption: Relating to the prevention, detection, and investigation of fraud, waste, and abuse in programs administered by the Texas Workforce Commission or by the commission's contractors or grantees.

Signed by governorSource-checked explanation published

Official report lists House author(s): Vo, Capriglione. 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.

HB3700 requires the Texas Workforce Commission to develop procedures and systems to prevent, detect and investigate fraud, waste and abuse across programs administered by the commission, under its contracts, or by its grantees.
The commission may obtain information or technology necessary to carry out these fraud-prevention, detection and investigation responsibilities.
Employees who report in good faith are protected against commission retaliation: the commission may not terminate or otherwise retaliate against such an employee for a report under this section.
By September 1 each year, the commission must send the legislature a written report covering each report received during the most recent calendar year.

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What does it do?

HB3700 requires the Texas Workforce Commission to develop procedures and systems to prevent, detect and investigate fraud, waste and abuse across programs administered by the commission, under its contracts, or by its grantees. It also requires reporting methods, including a public-website option and an anonymous reporting option for commission employees. Final law.

The commission may obtain information or technology necessary to carry out these fraud-prevention, detection and investigation responsibilities. The new provision is broader than the existing child-care-specific framework, which remains in the Labor Code. It does not itself establish a new criminal offense or make an unproven report a finding of fraud. Chapter 301, Subchapters K and L.

Employees who report in good faith are protected against commission retaliation: the commission may not terminate or otherwise retaliate against such an employee for a report under this section. The express anonymous-reporting option is for commission employees; the act should not be described as expressly guaranteeing every outside reporter the same option or creating a blanket confidentiality rule.

By September 1 each year, the commission must send the legislature a written report covering each report received during the most recent calendar year. It must include a copy of the report, any investigative findings, and, when fraud, waste or abuse was found, actions taken to resolve it. The first legislative report was due September 1, 2026. The law itself took effect September 1, 2025. Submission to the legislature is not the same as a requirement in this act to publish every allegation on a public website.

What changed along the way?

The introduced bill would have placed the broader program requirements in the existing child-care fraud subchapter and used language addressing subrecipients and their contractors. The House substitute instead created a separate Subchapter L and described programs administered by the commission, under contract with it or by a person awarded its grant. It required reporting methods and the public-website option.

The House adopted Luther Amendment 1. Its additions—anonymous employee reporting, the annual legislative report and first deadline, and the good-faith anti-retaliation protection—all survived into the final law. The engrossed text, Senate report and enrolled operative provisions match.

The amendment index lists that one adopted amendment. A point of order against it was withdrawn; the amendment was not defeated. The Senate passed the bill without further amendment, and the governor signed it May 29, 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?

Program participants and taxpayers may benefit from better detection of misuse, while legislative oversight gains a report-by-report view of complaints, findings and corrective actions. Good-faith commission employees receive an express protection against retaliation and an anonymous reporting route.

The commission must maintain the procedures, reporting channels, investigations and annual reporting process; contractors and grantees’ program administration falls within the framework. An allegation alone is not proof, and the act does not promise a particular recovery amount or elimination of fraud.

The May 2 fiscal note, covering the House-passed version with the amendment, anticipates no significant state or local fiscal impact and assumes costs can be absorbed with existing resources. It does not quantify savings or establish that implementation has already occurred.

Review boundary: This describes legal duties and protections, not an audit of the commission’s compliance, a finding against any contractor or an assertion that the first annual report has been submitted. The act does not itself specify a new damages remedy for retaliation.

Official sources

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