2025 · Regular session · House bill
HB4753
HB4753 requires a city to give a building owner a document verifying that the city issued the building’s original certificate of occupancy when the owner asks and the city has a record of issuing it.
Official caption: Relating to the municipal issuance of a document verifying that a certificate of occupancy has been issued for certain buildings.
Official report lists House author(s): Gates, Tepper, Lalani, Dorazio, Bell, Keith. 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.
- HB4753 requires a city to give a building owner a document verifying that the city issued the building’s original certificate of occupancy when the owner asks and the city has a record of issuing it.
- The protection depends on the city’s records.
What does it do?
HB4753 requires a city to give a building owner a document verifying that the city issued the building’s original certificate of occupancy when the owner asks and the city has a record of issuing it. The city must let the owner display this verification instead of the original certificate and cannot require that owner to obtain or display the original. A certificate of occupancy is the city’s document authorizing occupancy of a building; this law provides substitute proof of an existing certificate, not a shortcut to obtaining one for the first time. Final law
The protection depends on the city’s records. It does not require a verification document when no record of the original exists, and it does not generally waive building-safety rules or authorize a different use of the building. The act sets no specific processing deadline or fee schedule. It took effect June 20, 2025, when the governor signed it after both chambers supplied the votes needed for immediate effect.
What changed along the way?
The introduced bill already proposed replacement proof when a city had a record of an occupancy certificate. The House committee substitute made the conditions and protections more precise: the owner requests the document, the record concerns that building’s original certificate, and the city must allow the owner to display the verification in its place. The House-passed, Senate committee and final versions kept that wording. No separately numbered amendments appear in the official amendment index. Text versions · Amendment index
The House passed the bill 145–1, with three members present but not voting, and the Senate passed it 31–0. It adds Local Government Code Section 214.909. 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?
Building owners who cannot locate an original certificate could avoid unnecessary effort replacing or tracking it down when the city can verify its issuance. Cities must check their records and issue the verification; the law limits their ability to insist on the original paper. It does not ensure that old municipal records are complete.
The latest fiscal note anticipates no state fiscal impact and no significant local-government fiscal impact. That does not mean every records search is cost-free; the note does not quantify owner savings or the workload for each city.
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.
