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

HB4795

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Official caption: Relating to duties of the vital statistics unit of the Department of State Health Services in relation to certain suits affecting the parent-child relationship, including in regard to the electronic transmission of certain information.

Signed by governorSource-checked explanation published

Official report lists House author(s): Noble, Campos. 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.

HB4795 requires the Department of State Health Services’ vital statistics unit to create electronic processes, using existing resources, through which the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) can request two kinds of information: which court last had continuing, exclusive jurisdiction over a child’s case, and the results of a paternity-registry search.
The law expressly adds DFPS to those who may request the court information and removes the statutory requirement that such a request be written.
The act took effect September 1, 2025, but its changes apply only to requests received on or after January 1, 2026.

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What does it do?

HB4795 requires the Department of State Health Services’ vital statistics unit to create electronic processes, using existing resources, through which the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) can request two kinds of information: which court last had continuing, exclusive jurisdiction over a child’s case, and the results of a paternity-registry search. The first helps identify the court responsible for an existing child-related case. The second concerns a registry used to give notice of adoption or parental-rights-termination proceedings to men who may have fathered a child. Final law

The law expressly adds DFPS to those who may request the court information and removes the statutory requirement that such a request be written. It also allows a digitized or written signature on a certificate reporting the paternity-registry search results. It does not open the confidential registry to the general public, change who is legally a parent, or change the underlying requirements for adoption or termination of parental rights. Existing registry confidentiality and search rules

The act took effect September 1, 2025, but its changes apply only to requests received on or after January 1, 2026. Earlier requests remain governed by the former law. The Health and Human Services Commission’s executive commissioner must adopt necessary rules as soon as practicable after the effective date. The statute requires the electronic process; this explanation does not verify the current system’s availability.

What changed along the way?

The introduced bill would have required electronic access for additional eligible requesters, not just DFPS, and added a 10-day deadline for furnishing paternity-registry search results. The House committee substitute narrowed the required electronic processes to DFPS, directed use of existing resources, and removed that proposed paternity-search deadline. The separate, preexisting 10-day deadline for transmitting court-jurisdiction information was not removed. Introduced text · Family Code Section 155.101

The House committee, House-passed, Senate committee and final versions contain the same operative language. No separate floor amendments are listed. The governor signed the bill June 20, 2025. History · 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?

DFPS staff and families whose cases require these records could benefit from fewer mailed requests and quicker information exchange. The bill does not guarantee a particular processing time for paternity searches or give other eligible requesters the same new electronic-access entitlement.

The latest fiscal note estimates a one-time $200,000 state general-revenue cost in fiscal 2026 for modifications to the existing electronic vital-events system. It explains that “existing resources” can still mean shifting money away from other programs. The broader introduced version had an estimated $4.38 million cost for 2026–27; that is not the estimate for the enacted approach. The final bill appropriates no money, and the note anticipates no significant local-government fiscal impact.

Official sources

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