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

HB4904

HB4904 limits civil liability for an owner whose property is used for motorcycle-operation and safety instruction by an instructor, or for an instructor-training course.

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Official caption: Relating to civil liability of property owners relating to motorcycle instruction and training courses.

Signed by governorSource-checked explanation published

Official report lists House author(s): Guillen. 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.

HB4904 limits civil liability for an owner whose property is used for motorcycle-operation and safety instruction by an instructor, or for an instructor-training course.
The surrounding statute defines an “instructor” as someone licensed to teach as an employee or contractor of a licensed motorcycle school, and an instructor-training course as one preparing people for instructor licensure.
The act took effect September 1, 2025, and applies only to legal claims that accrue on or after that date.

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What does it do?

HB4904 limits civil liability for an owner whose property is used for motorcycle-operation and safety instruction by an instructor, or for an instructor-training course. The owner is not liable for acts or omissions occurring during that instruction or course, except when the claim arises from gross negligence, recklessness or intentional misconduct. Those exceptions are important: this is not immunity for every kind of harmful conduct. Final law

The surrounding statute defines an “instructor” as someone licensed to teach as an employee or contractor of a licensed motorcycle school, and an instructor-training course as one preparing people for instructor licensure. The bill protects the property owner in that setting; it does not grant blanket immunity to every rider, school or instructor, or to ordinary recreational motorcycle use. Existing training-licensing requirements remain. Definitions and training law

The act took effect September 1, 2025, and applies only to legal claims that accrue on or after that date. The relevant line is when the claim arises, not simply when someone files a lawsuit. Earlier claims remain outside this new provision.

What changed along the way?

The introduced bill described both motorcycle instruction and instructor training but stated the protection in terms of acts or omissions during “the course.” The House committee substitute expressly changed that to “the instruction or course.” The gross-negligence, recklessness and intentional-misconduct exceptions remained throughout. The House committee, House-passed, Senate committee and final operative texts are identical.

The House committee first voted to report without amendments, then reconsidered and reported the substitute. No separately numbered 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?

Property owners may be more willing to provide training sites when their exposure to ordinary-negligence claims is reduced. Training providers and prospective riders could benefit if more sites become available. Conversely, an injured person may have fewer grounds to recover from the property owner, even though the stated exceptions and potential claims against other responsible parties remain. The bill does not guarantee more classes, lower insurance premiums or compensation for an injury.

The latest fiscal note anticipates no significant state or local-government fiscal impact and assumes public implementation costs can be absorbed within existing resources. It does not quantify private insurance costs, injury losses or litigation savings.

Official sources

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