2025 · Regular session · Senate bill
SB314
SB314 restricts specified additives in free or reduced-price meals provided by Texas school districts and open-enrollment charter schools under the covered meal programs.
Official caption: Relating to prohibiting certain food additives from being included in free or reduced-price meals provided by school districts.
Official report lists Senate author(s): Hughes. 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.
- SB314 restricts specified additives in free or reduced-price meals provided by Texas school districts and open-enrollment charter schools under the covered meal programs.
- The final list names brominated vegetable oil (BVO), potassium bromate, propylparaben, azodicarbonamide, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), red 3, red 40, yellow 5, yellow 6, blue 1, blue 2, green 3, “citrus red 3 (CAS 6358-53-8)” as written in the law, orange B, Class III ammonia caramel, Class IV sulfite ammonia caramel, and titanium dioxide.
- The restriction covers meals under Education Code 33.901, the national school breakfast program and the national school lunch program.
What does it do?
SB314 restricts specified additives in free or reduced-price meals provided by Texas school districts and open-enrollment charter schools under the covered meal programs. It is not a statewide ban on selling those ingredients or a ban on every food brought onto a school campus. The law took effect when signed May 27, 2025, but its operational start is later: the 2026–27 school year, limited to food contracts entered into or renewed on or after September 1, 2026. Final law, including the timing limits; Official history.
The final list names brominated vegetable oil (BVO), potassium bromate, propylparaben, azodicarbonamide, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), red 3, red 40, yellow 5, yellow 6, blue 1, blue 2, green 3, “citrus red 3 (CAS 6358-53-8)” as written in the law, orange B, Class III ammonia caramel, Class IV sulfite ammonia caramel, and titanium dioxide. It also covers additives substantially similar to any of those 17 named entries. The final law supplies chemical identifiers for several colors. It does not simply prohibit all caramel or all food additives. Exact statutory names and identifiers.
The restriction covers meals under Education Code 33.901, the national school breakfast program and the national school lunch program. A district or open-enrollment charter school receiving a waiver under Education Code 7.056 is not in violation of this section. That waiver route survived; a proposal for an automatic one-year waiver whenever a district said it could not comply did not. This is an explanation of the enactment’s scope, not confirmation of a particular school’s contract date, waiver or current menu.
What changed along the way?
The introduced bill listed seven additives and would have applied beginning in 2025–26 to contracts entered into or renewed from September 1, 2025. The Senate committee substitute expanded the list with more colors and substantially similar additives, and moved both the school-year and contract timing forward by one year. Those later dates survived. Introduced and committee versions.
Miles offered two Senate amendments. Amendment 1, which combined the waiver route with an automatic one-year waiver limited to once every five years, failed. Amendment 2, keeping only the ordinary Section 7.056 waiver protection, was adopted March 12. A failed proposal is not an automatic entitlement under this law. Failed automatic-waiver proposal; Adopted waiver provision.
Harris Davila’s House amendment, adopted May 9, added the listed citrus-red and orange-B entries and replaced the generic caramel entry with specified Class III and Class IV caramel colors. It adjusted the substantially-similar clause to all 17 named entries. The Senate concurred May 14, and these changes appear in the enrolled law. House amendment; All three amendments and dispositions; Enrolled text.
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?
The final posted fiscal note, dated May 11, 2025, anticipates no significant state fiscal impact and assumes state costs can be absorbed with existing resources. It separately warns that districts and charter schools may need alternative ingredients and staff training, with local costs that vary. It does not price each school’s transition or say that local compliance is free. The earlier February 24, March 5 and May 7 notes make the same broad distinction. Fiscal note.
The restriction is intended to remove the listed ingredients from covered meals where it applies. Schools and food suppliers face sourcing, menu and compliance work; the later start and contract-renewal limit allow a transition, and waivers may affect individual schools. This legal restriction is not itself proof that every listed substance causes the same harm, nor does the fiscal note quantify health benefits. No individual school’s compliance or waiver status is assessed here.
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.
