SB36

A dedicated homeland-security division within DPS

SB36 establishes a Homeland Security Division in the Texas Department of Public Safety to coordinate law-enforcement work supporting homeland security, border security and protection of critical infrastructure. Signed June 20, 2025, it took effect September 1, 2025. It is a division within DPS, not a separate federal immigration agency or a replacement for the Texas Division of Emergency Management. official history; final law.

The DPS director appoints the chief with the Public Safety Commission’s consent. The chief reports to the director and, as the director determines, a deputy director. The chief may hire deputy chiefs and other staff and delegate duties unless law or rule forbids it. Existing law already allowed DPS to create other necessary divisions; SB36 expressly adds this division to the statutory structure and assigns its duties. final law, Sections 411.552–411.553; prior Section 411.002.

Border intelligence, planning and infrastructure protection

The division must lead strategic and operational border-security planning, coordinate participating federal/state agencies, local governments and private organizations, help DPS regions with tactical planning, and operate border-intelligence centers. It sets intelligence collection and management policies and manages Operation Drawbridge, the border camera and surveillance-equipment program. These provisions assign coordination and intelligence duties; they do not themselves establish a new criminal offense or a general exemption from other legal limits on surveillance. final law, Sections 411.554–411.555.

Other duties include regularly developing a statewide homeland-security plan; coordinating exercises with emergency-management and other partners; planning for major law-enforcement emergencies; assessing criminal threats and response capabilities; coordinating the named annual federal preparedness assessments; and sharing threat information with public and private organizations. The division must help agencies and local governments comply with the specified federal restrictions on commerce with certain entities, including listed Chinese military companies and other sanctioned entities. This is an assistance duty tied to federal restrictions, not a declaration that all commerce with every Chinese business is prohibited. final law, Section 411.556.

For physical protection of critical infrastructure against criminal actors and organizations, the law prioritizes energy, communications, transportation, and water/wastewater systems within the federally identified infrastructure sectors. The division must categorize infrastructure and its dependencies, conduct coordination exercises and support the state operations center during disasters. It must operate a program training public/private volunteers to recognize and report infrastructure threats, with reasonable eligibility requirements allowed. It may establish work groups and must operate or establish the specified technology-study groups, propose annual DPS research priorities, coordinate with higher education and research law-enforcement technologies. final law, Sections 411.557–411.560.

On request, the division supplies subject-matter advice to state agencies and local governments. Before each legislative session it must confer with state agencies about their homeland-security budget requests and coordinate to reduce unnecessary duplication. For this budget provision, homeland-security activity covers prevention, discovery, response or recovery involving terrorist attacks, hostile military/paramilitary action or extraordinary law-enforcement emergencies. The Homeland Security Council and permanent advisory committees must collaborate with the new division when advising the governor; they are not abolished. final law, Sections 411.561, 421.024 and 421.045; prior Section 421.024; prior Section 421.045.

Public reports and private information

The division must maintain a public website and publish its assessments and reports when they are neither confidential nor excepted from disclosure. But information supplied by a private organization receives a specific protection if the organization considers it highly sensitive, proprietary or otherwise confidential and gives written notice. The division, work group or task force must secure it in the same manner as the provider, and ordinarily cannot disclose it further without consent. final law, Sections 411.562–411.563.

The protection is not an absolute veto over a legal disclosure requirement. If state/federal law or a court order requires disclosure, the recipient must, to the extent practicable, notify the provider no later than the fifth business day before disclosure and preserve the information’s original condition, including labels or markings. The act thus combines a public-reporting duty with a broad written-notice protection for private submissions; it does not make all division records public or all records secret. final law, Section 411.563.

Moving existing centers and positions

As soon as practicable after the effective date, DPS must move management and operations of the Border Security Operations Center and Joint Operations and Intelligence Centers to the division. Where another state agency is involved, a written transfer agreement must set an effective date. Related money, contracts, leases, property, software/documentation, records, obligations and unspent/unobligated appropriations transfer; existing rules and procedures continue until DPS changes them, and agencies must provide necessary access. final law, Section 5.

Related full-time-equivalent positions also transfer to DPS, but the people holding those jobs are not automatically guaranteed employment there. DPS must post the positions and consider—but need not hire—applicants who worked at the transferring agency immediately before transfer. This briefing explains those statutory transition duties, not a finding that each transfer or hiring action has occurred. final law, Section 5(h).