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

HB4995

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Official caption: Relating to the carrying of handguns by tactical medical professionals while on duty providing support to tactical units of law enforcement agencies.

Signed by governorSource-checked explanation published

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

HB4995 creates a special handgun-training and certification route for physicians and emergency medical services personnel whom a law-enforcement agency head employs or appoints to provide direct medical support to a tactical unit responding to a high-risk incident.
A participant must hold a handgun license.
For a qualifying professional actually performing those duties with an unexpired certificate, the law creates defenses to prosecution for concealed- and open-handgun trespass under Penal Code Sections 30.06 and 30.07.
The law also extends an existing government-liability protection to tactical medical professionals: a governmental unit is not civilly liable for a licensed professional's discharge of a handgun, and the discharge is treated as outside the professional's official duties.
The law took effect September 1, 2025.

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What does it do?

HB4995 creates a special handgun-training and certification route for physicians and emergency medical services personnel whom a law-enforcement agency head employs or appoints to provide direct medical support to a tactical unit responding to a high-risk incident. It is not a blanket exemption for everyone working in health care.

A participant must hold a handgun license. The Department of Public Safety (DPS), consulting the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, must set standards for initial training and annual continuing education. A qualified handgun instructor must teach the course; initial training includes classroom work, field instruction and physical demonstrations of proficiency. DPS issues a completion certificate that expires after one year. The medical professional pays the course provider’s fees.

For a qualifying professional actually performing those duties with an unexpired certificate, the law creates defenses to prosecution for concealed- and open-handgun trespass under Penal Code Sections 30.06 and 30.07. Separately, Sections 46.02 and 46.03—the unlawful-carrying and prohibited-places laws—do not apply when that professional meets the certificate and duty conditions and carries the handgun concealed or in a shoulder or belt holster. These provisions are not an unrestricted off-duty carry right or permission to use unlawful force.

The law also extends an existing government-liability protection to tactical medical professionals: a governmental unit is not civilly liable for a licensed professional’s discharge of a handgun, and the discharge is treated as outside the professional’s official duties. This protects the governmental unit, rather than granting the individual blanket immunity from liability.

The law took effect September 1, 2025. DPS rules were due December 1, 2025, and instructors could not offer the initial course before January 1, 2026. The civil change applies to claims accruing on or after September 1, 2025; the criminal changes apply prospectively, retaining former law if any element of the offense occurred before the effective date. Enacted text · Official history.

What changed along the way?

The introduced bill covered licensed physicians. The House committee substitute expanded eligibility to emergency medical services personnel as defined in Health and Safety Code Section 773.003, including emergency care attendants, emergency medical technicians and paramedics. The law-enforcement appointment and tactical-support requirements remained.

That expanded version’s operative provisions remained unchanged in the House-engrossed, Senate committee and enrolled texts. The amendment index lists no floor amendments. All text versions.

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?

Qualifying tactical medical personnel gain a defined route to carry a handgun while providing medical support during dangerous incidents. Agencies gain the express liability protection described above. Patients and officers may benefit from medical personnel remaining close to the tactical team, although the bill does not establish that a particular safety outcome will occur.

Medical professionals bear course costs and recurring training requirements. Property owners face new defenses to handgun-trespass prosecutions in these limited duty situations. People injured by a discharge face the law’s express restriction on government liability; the law does not eliminate every possible claim against the individual.

The latest fiscal note anticipates no significant state fiscal impact. It assumes DPS can absorb certification and standards-development costs with existing resources and expects no significant correctional or local enforcement, prosecution, supervision or confinement costs. That does not mean individual training is free.

Official sources

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