← Back to bills and search results
2025 · Regular session · House bill
HB4490
HB4490 adds a public-disclosure exception for information relating to a deceased person's next of kin in the medical-examiner records law.
Official caption: Relating to an exemption from required disclosure of information related to the next of kin of deceased persons.
Official report lists House author(s): Smithee. 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.
- HB4490 adds a public-disclosure exception for information relating to a deceased person's next of kin in the medical-examiner records law.
- The change does not seal every death-investigation record or make all information about a death secret.
- The information remains subject to disclosure under a subpoena or other legal authority.
- A separate law, HB1610, reorganizes the criminal-procedure provisions effective April 1, 2027.
What does it do?
HB4490 adds a public-disclosure exception for information relating to a deceased person’s next of kin in the medical-examiner records law. It was signed and took effect June 20, 2025.
The change does not seal every death-investigation record or make all information about a death secret. It adds subsection (d) to Article 49.25, Section 11, Code of Criminal Procedure, which governs medical-examiner records. The exception concerns information about the surviving next of kin, rather than the entire autopsy report. The statute does not give a closed list of protected data fields.
The information remains subject to disclosure under a subpoena or other legal authority. The new rule applies to information requests received on or after June 20, 2025—not merely to deaths occurring after that date. Earlier requests remain governed by the law in effect when received.
A separate law, HB1610, reorganizes the criminal-procedure provisions effective April 1, 2027. Its codification should not be read as erasing this protection: the Code Construction Act’s saving rules preserve same-legislature amendments, and HB1610, Section 4.02, applies those rules.
What changed along the way?
The introduced, House committee, House-passed, Senate committee and enrolled versions have identical operative language. Neither chamber added a substantive amendment. The amendment index reports none; the text index provides all five versions.
The official history and enrolled certifications record House passage 143–1, with one member present but not voting, and Senate passage 31–0. Those votes met the immediate-effect threshold; the fallback September 1 date did not apply.
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?
Surviving relatives gain a measure of privacy in sensitive death-investigation records. People requesting records, including journalists and researchers, may receive less information about relatives or need another lawful route to obtain it. Medical-examiner offices must distinguish protected next-of-kin information from the rest of a record and honor applicable legal disclosure requirements.
The latest fiscal note anticipated no state fiscal implication and no significant local fiscal implication. It did not put a dollar value on privacy benefits or the work of reviewing requests. HB4490 creates no new appropriation or specific new penalty.
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.
