2025 · Regular session · Senate bill
SB456
SB456 makes the existing crime of buying or selling human organs a state jail felony and requires physician-license revocation for knowingly using an illegally obtained organ.
Official caption: Relating to the purchase or sale of human organs; increasing a criminal penalty.
Official report lists Senate author(s): Middleton. 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.
- SB456 makes the existing crime of buying or selling human organs a state jail felony and requires physician-license revocation for knowingly using an illegally obtained organ.
- The existing offense covers knowingly or intentionally offering to buy or sell, acquiring, receiving, selling or otherwise transferring a human organ for valuable consideration.
- The Texas Medical Board must revoke a physician’s license if the physician knowingly uses an organ obtained in violation of that offense in a medical procedure.
- Signed June 20, 2025, the law took effect September 1, 2025.
What does it do?
SB456 makes the existing crime of buying or selling human organs a state jail felony and requires physician-license revocation for knowingly using an illegally obtained organ. Previously the organ-transaction offense was a Class A misdemeanor. The bill does not make ordinary organ donation a crime. Final law; Existing offense and exceptions.
The existing offense covers knowingly or intentionally offering to buy or sell, acquiring, receiving, selling or otherwise transferring a human organ for valuable consideration. Its exceptions remain: usual medical/hospital service fees, reimbursement of legal or medical expenses for the recipient’s benefit, and a donor’s donation-related travel, housing and lost wages. The definition includes organs and tissues but excludes hair, blood and specified blood products, and human fetal tissue; those exclusions concern this particular offense, not whether other laws apply. Unchanged scope.
The Texas Medical Board must revoke a physician’s license if the physician knowingly uses an organ obtained in violation of that offense in a medical procedure. This new rule is tied to knowing use, not an innocent mistake or every transplant. It is a separate express revocation requirement alongside the existing disciplinary framework. New Occupations Code 164.0571; Existing offense-based disciplinary provision.
Signed June 20, 2025, the law took effect September 1, 2025. The increased penalty applies only to offenses committed on or after that date; if any element occurred earlier, prior law applies. The new license rule likewise applies only to conduct on or after that date. History; Separate transition clauses.
What changed along the way?
The introduced, Senate committee, engrossed, House committee and enrolled versions contain the same operative changes. The official amendment index lists no amendments. The Senate passed the bill May 6 and the House passed it May 28 without a substantive rewrite. All versions; 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 April 21, 2025 fiscal note anticipates no significant state fiscal impact and assumes no significant local enforcement, prosecution, supervision or confinement impact. It is the indexed introduced-stage note; the operative bill did not change in later versions. The bill does not appropriate money or calculate a deterrence benefit. Fiscal note.
The accompanying criminal-justice statement reports no fiscal-year-2024 arrests, juvenile referrals, adult community-supervision placements, or adult/juvenile state-institution admissions for this offense. It notes that increased penalties may increase correctional demands but assumes no significant state correctional impact. Zero recorded activity in those categories is not proof that illegal transactions never occur. Patients and lawful donation systems may benefit from deterrence; people committing the offense face more serious punishment and physicians meeting the knowing-use test face loss of their license. No size of those effects is established by the sources. Criminal-justice impact.
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.
