SB2798

The new seven-year category covers felony offenses under Penal Code Chapter 32, except the forgery category that remains at ten years. The earlier list separately named offenses such as misapplication of fiduciary property, credit-card abuse and fraudulent use of identifying information. Those offenses remain covered by the broader wording; deleting their separate entries does not decriminalize them or shorten their seven-year period. Other felonies not given a special limitation generally had a three-year period in this article. Final law, Article 12.01(2)(C), (3) and (10); Earlier Article 12.01 text.

Expired cases stay expired: if prosecution became barred before September 1, 2025, this act does not revive it. The measure changes charging deadlines, not the elements of fraud, sentencing ranges or civil lawsuit deadlines. Calculating a particular criminal deadline can also require rules that pause or otherwise alter the clock; this is not an individual-case deadline calculator. Final law, section 2 and Article 12.01’s opening exceptions.

The act also reconciles twelve 2023 amendments to Article 12.01, including duplicate numbering and cross-references. For example, its combined text distinguishes abandoning or endangering a child—ten years from the victim’s 18th birthday—from the five-year period for an elderly or disabled victim. It separately states twenty years from the child victim’s 18th birthday for the specified trafficking offenses, and ten years from discovery for the corresponding disabled-victim trafficking category. These distinctions build on the earlier acts; they should not all be reported as newly created deadlines in 2025. Final law; 2023 child-abandonment change; 2023 elderly/disabled-victim change; 2023 child-trafficking period; 2023 disabled-victim distinction.

All five posted SB2798 versions have the same operative provisions, and the amendment index lists none. Other 2025 acts also amended Article 12.01, so SB2798 alone is not a complete chart of all current criminal deadlines. This briefing describes SB2798’s changes, not an assertion that other acts’ provisions disappeared because they are absent from this bill’s reprinted text. SB2798 versions; Amendment index; HB1778, section 4.01; SB127, section 1.

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

For fraud felonies newly brought under the longer period, victims and investigators have more time for a case to reach prosecution, while defendants face a longer period of possible charges. More time does not guarantee sufficient evidence, a conviction or repayment to a victim. The law does not require every eligible case to be prosecuted. Final law.

The sole posted fiscal note, dated April 14, anticipates no significant state or local-government fiscal implication and assumes associated costs can be absorbed with existing resources. It provides no dollar estimate of added prosecutions, defense costs or victim recoveries. Fiscal note.