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2025 · Regular session · Senate bill
SB40
SB40 bars local political subdivisions from paying public money to a nonprofit that accepts public donations and uses them to deposit defendants’ bail-bond money with a court.
Official caption: Relating to the use by a political subdivision of public funds to pay bail bonds; authorizing injunctive relief.
Official report lists Senate author(s): Huffman. 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.
- SB40 bars local political subdivisions from paying public money to a nonprofit that accepts public donations and uses them to deposit defendants’ bail-bond money with a court.
- A taxpayer or resident of the political subdivision may seek an injunction—a court order stopping further prohibited activity and related public payments.
- The restriction concerns public payments to the described nonprofits.
What does it do?
SB40 bars local political subdivisions from paying public money to a nonprofit that accepts public donations and uses them to deposit defendants’ bail-bond money with a court. Signed June 16, 2025, it took effect September 1, 2025 and adds Local Government Code Section 140.014. Official history; final law.
A taxpayer or resident of the political subdivision may seek an injunction—a court order stopping further prohibited activity and related public payments. The prevailing party is entitled to reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. That fee provision is not limited to a winning taxpayer or resident; it can also benefit a political subdivision that wins.
The restriction concerns public payments to the described nonprofits. SB40 does not itself ban private donations, criminalize accepting bail assistance, or change a judge’s bail decision. Its wording is not limited to a particular charged offense, and it does not create a public-funding exception for a covered nonprofit’s other services. It provides a civil injunction remedy, not a new criminal penalty.
What changed along the way?
The introduced, Senate committee and engrossed texts kept the same funding restriction and taxpayer/resident injunction remedy. Their fee provision allowed a successful taxpayer or resident to recover fees and costs from the political subdivision. The House committee substitute changed this to a right for the prevailing party; the final law retains that change. It also clarifies the caption to mention injunctive relief. Text versions; engrossed version; enrolled version.
The official amendment index lists no floor amendments. The history’s House amendment and Senate concurrence refer to the House’s changed bill text, not an indexed floor proposal. The Senate concurred May 29, 2025; the House committee and final operative text match. 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?
The latest posted fiscal note—May 13, 2025, revision 3, for the House substitute—anticipates no state fiscal impact. It identifies possible effects on political subdivisions paying the described nonprofits, including attorney’s fees and costs when a taxpayer or resident wins, but supplies no dollar estimate. The earlier two fiscal notes reach the same broad conclusion. Latest fiscal note.
The accompanying criminal-justice statement assumes no significant impact on state correctional populations or resources. That is not a measurement of local jail costs or of how many people will lose bail assistance. Criminal-justice impact statement.
Taxpayers and residents gain a way to stop the prohibited public spending. Covered nonprofits may lose public funding, and defendants who rely on their assistance may be affected. A lawsuit also carries costs and possible fee exposure for the losing party. The bill and notes do not quantify effects on public safety, court appearances, detention or household finances. Enacted scope and remedies.
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.
