2025 Texas sessionsRegular and both called sessions have ended. This index covers House and Senate bills, not resolutions. Statuses come from official reports.

2025 · Regular session · Senate bill

SB703

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Official caption: Relating to the criminal and licensing consequences for the commission of certain offenses by massage establishments, massage schools, massage therapists, and massage therapy instructors.

Signed by governorSource-checked explanation published

Official report lists Senate author(s): Zaffirini. This does not identify sponsors or amendment drafters.

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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.

SB703 revises and specifies the offenses that disqualify individuals from massage-related licenses, ties mandatory therapist and instructor revocation to that list, and adds licensed massage therapists to the sexual-assault law’s definition of a health care services provider.
The licensing trigger is a conviction, guilty or no-contest plea, or deferred adjudication—not an accusation alone.
The commission or executive director must revoke a massage therapist’s or instructor’s license for a listed criminal disposition.
Adding licensed massage therapists to the health-care-provider definition brings them within the existing sexual-assault rule covering a provider who causes a patient or former patient to submit by exploiting emotional dependency.

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What does it do?

SB703 revises and specifies the offenses that disqualify individuals from massage-related licenses, ties mandatory therapist and instructor revocation to that list, and adds licensed massage therapists to the sexual-assault law’s definition of a health care services provider. Signed May 21, 2025, it took effect September 1, 2025. Enacted law; Official history.

The licensing trigger is a conviction, guilty or no-contest plea, or deferred adjudication—not an accusation alone. It covers individuals seeking licenses as massage establishments, schools, therapists or instructors. The list includes human trafficking and specified sexual-abuse, assault, exploitation, invasive-image, prostitution-related and child-sexual-material offenses, as well as bestiality and prohibited sexual conduct. It also covers criminal attempt, conspiracy or solicitation under the named statutes when the intended offense is listed, and federal or other-state offenses with substantially similar elements. The precise list controls; this is not an automatic bar for every criminal record. Section 1, Occupations Code 455.152.

The commission or executive director must revoke a massage therapist’s or instructor’s license for a listed criminal disposition. The separate existing ground for practicing massage at or for a sexually oriented business remains. The act does not rewrite the different school-and-establishment revocation rule in Section 455.251(c). Implementing rules are required as soon as practicable after the effective date. Sections 2 and 4; Existing disciplinary framework.

Adding licensed massage therapists to the health-care-provider definition brings them within the existing sexual-assault rule covering a provider who causes a patient or former patient to submit by exploiting emotional dependency. The other elements of the offense still matter; this is not a reclassification for every health-care law. The definition also feeds the existing indecent-assault provider provision through its cross-reference. SB703’s express criminal-law transition applies the amended Section 22.011 only to offenses committed on or after September 1, 2025; if any element occurred earlier, prior law governs. Sections 3 and 5; Sexual-assault elements and provider rule; Indecent-assault cross-reference.

What changed along the way?

SB703 reconciles two 2023 versions of the license-ineligibility law and replaces them with an express list. Sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault were already addressed in HB2016, while SB483 listed trafficking, specified prostitution-related offenses and substantially similar out-of-state or federal offenses. SB703 should not be credited with first prohibiting every offense in its list. It expressly adds the attempt/conspiracy/solicitation category and connects therapist/instructor mandatory revocation to the full eligibility list. 2023 HB2016; 2023 SB483; Sections 1–2.

All five operative versions—introduced, Senate committee, engrossed, House committee and enrolled—match. Both committees reported without amendments, and the amendment index lists none. The House used SB703 in place of HB2776. The older statutes named in Section 1 are prior law, not 2025 amendments. Introduced text; Versions; Amendment index; Passage history.

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?

Clients and patients may benefit from the licensing restrictions and the express inclusion of licensed massage therapists in provider-related criminal-law protections. People with the specified convictions, pleas or deferred adjudications face loss of access to the affected licenses or mandatory therapist/instructor revocation. Regulators must apply the specified list and adopt rules. The act does not establish that every allegation is true, guarantee reduced abuse, or create a new compensation program for victims. Licensing triggers, provider definition and rulemaking.

The February 17 fiscal note anticipates no significant state fiscal impact and assumes costs can be absorbed using existing resources. It anticipates no local-government fiscal impact. Those estimates do not quantify private lost earnings, compliance costs, victim benefits or future prosecutions, and the act makes no appropriation. Fiscal note.

Official sources

Catalog report retrieved 2026-10-25. Check the official record for corrections or later changes.