2025 · Regular session · Senate bill
SB745
SB745 makes intoxication manslaughter a first-degree felony when the prosecution shows at trial that the person caused more than one death during the same criminal transaction.
Official caption: Relating to enhancing the criminal penalty for the offense of intoxication manslaughter in certain circumstances.
Official report lists Senate author(s): Kolkhorst. 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.
- SB745 makes intoxication manslaughter a first-degree felony when the prosecution shows at trial that the person caused more than one death during the same criminal transaction.
- The underlying offense still requires intoxication to cause a death by accident or mistake while operating the vehicles or equipment covered by the statute, including a motor vehicle in a public place, aircraft, watercraft or amusement ride, or while assembling a mobile amusement ride.
- The ordinary first-degree punishment range is 5–99 years or life, rather than the second-degree range of 2–20 years; both allow an additional fine of up to $10,000.
What does it do?
SB745 makes intoxication manslaughter a first-degree felony when the prosecution shows at trial that the person caused more than one death during the same criminal transaction. It does not require a prior intoxication conviction for this new enhancement. The bill was signed May 30, 2025 and took effect September 1, 2025. Final act; History.
The underlying offense still requires intoxication to cause a death by accident or mistake while operating the vehicles or equipment covered by the statute, including a motor vehicle in a public place, aircraft, watercraft or amusement ride, or while assembling a mobile amusement ride. SB745 changes the punishment level, not those elements. It keeps the existing first-degree enhancement for killing the on-duty officials and emergency responders described in Section 49.09(b-1). Underlying offense; Prior enhancement law; Amended provision.
The ordinary first-degree punishment range is 5–99 years or life, rather than the second-degree range of 2–20 years; both allow an additional fine of up to $10,000. Those are statutory ranges, not an automatic life sentence or a prediction of a particular defendant’s sentence. The new rule applies only to offenses committed on or after September 1, 2025; if any element occurred earlier, the former law applies. First-degree range; Second-degree range; Transition rule.
What changed along the way?
The introduced, Senate committee, engrossed, House committee and enrolled operative texts match. Both committees reported the bill without amendments, and the official amendment index lists none. The final act adds the multiple-death alternative without removing the existing protected-victim enhancement. Introduced bill; All versions; Amendment index; Enrolled law.
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 change exposes people convicted of qualifying multiple-death offenses to substantially longer imprisonment. It may increase correctional demands, but the official analysis does not demonstrate a deterrent effect or quantify how many cases will receive longer sentences. Penalty change; Criminal-justice impact statement.
The March 30 fiscal note anticipates no significant state impact and assumes local enforcement, prosecution, supervision and confinement impacts will not be significant. The accompanying criminal-justice analysis reports 242 arrests and 142 adult state correctional admissions for intoxication manslaughter in fiscal 2024, but expressly says it is unknown how many involved multiple deaths. Those totals are not estimates of cases affected by SB745. Fiscal note; Impact statement and data limits.
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.
