Monitoring the Session

HB 4490

bill keeping next of kin out of records requests

Became law

Verdict: No flags

No flagsInitial review
Rep. John T. SmitheeRHouse 86

Initial review · graded Oct 20, 2026 · Headline, summary and grade are analysis of the bill text, not a finding about any person · How we grade

Caption

relating to an exemption from required disclosure of information related to the next of kin of deceased persons.

Caption from analyzed text · version I.

Summary

Covers medical examiner records of the deceased.

The bill keeps information about the next of kin of a dead person, held in medical examiner records, out of public records requests. It touches families of the deceased, medical examiner offices, and people who file open-records requests for death records. On the ground, a records request can no longer pull next-of-kin details, though a subpoena or other law can still reach them.

Labels

Labels: INSTANT LAW. Took effect immediately, on Jun 20, 2025. 833 of the 1,185 graded 89R laws took effect Sep 1, 2025 (derived from the bill histories, snapshot Oct 19, 2026).

Receipt

The receipt

89R-HB4490 · 2025-03-12

SOLD BY

Rep. John T. SmitheeRHouse 86

+ 2 coauthors

ITEM

relating to an exemption from required disclosure of information related to the next of kin of deceased persons.

WHAT IT DOES

Covers medical examiner records of the deceased.

The bill keeps information about the next of kin of a dead person, held in medical examiner records, out of public records requests. It touches families of the deceased, medical examiner offices, and people who file open-records requests for death records. On the ground, a records request can no longer pull next-of-kin details, though a subpoena or other law can still reach them.

CHARGES

[ ] NONE FOUND

TOTAL

No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

LBB estimate · fiscal note version E · source

Sources

Fiscal note · version E · May 14, 2025

No first-year general revenue figure available here.

LBB published estimates · flow over the stated periods.

Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

HISTORY

  1. Filed
  2. Read first time
  3. Referred to Public Health
  4. Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
  5. Considered in public hearing
  6. Testimony taken/registration(s) recorded in committee
  7. Left pending in committee
  8. Considered in formal meeting
  9. Reported favorably w/o amendment(s)
  10. Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator
  11. Committee report distributed
  12. Committee report sent to Calendars
  13. Considered in Calendars
  14. Placed on General State Calendar
  15. Read 2nd time
  16. Passed to engrossment
  17. Record vote RV#1100
  18. Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
  19. Read 3rd time
  20. Passed
  21. Record vote RV#1141
  22. Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
  23. Reported engrossed
  24. Received from the House
  25. Read first time
  26. Referred to Business & Commerce
  27. Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
  28. Considered in public hearing
  29. Testimony taken in committee
  30. Left pending in committee
  31. Considered in public hearing
  32. Vote taken in committee
  33. Reported favorably w/o amendments
  34. Recommended for local & uncontested calendar
  35. Committee report printed and distributed
  36. Placed on intent calendar
  37. Rules suspended-Regular order of business
  38. Read 2nd time & passed to 3rd reading
  39. Vote recorded in Journal
  40. Three day rule suspended
  41. Record vote
  42. Read 3rd time
  43. Passed
  44. Record vote
  45. Senate passage reported
  46. Reported enrolled
  47. Signed in the House
  48. Signed in the Senate
  49. Sent to the Governor
  50. Signed by the Governor
  51. Effective immediately
FILED UNDER

No verified beat found.

SIGNED FOR BY

House · 143 yea · 1 nay

Senate · 31 yea · 0 nay

Sources

House: Final passage · May 1, 2025. Journal. Published stock for this vote. Snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

Senate: Final passage · May 22, 2025. Journal. Published stock for this vote. Snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

All floor motions and other positions below.

No flags

THANK YOU FOR CHECKING THE RECEIPT

CAMPAIGN PAID FOR BY

CAMPAIGN PAID FOR BY

John T. Smithee

Donors

Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of TX$5KRichard Weekley$5,000Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC$5K

Not tied to this bill.

Sources

The author's campaign account only. Own money and internal transfers are separate on the member page.

Derived itemized flow · Aug 19, 2024 to Jun 24, 2025. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of TX$5,000.00

Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of TX

$5,000.00

Cash
$5,000.00
Paid by others
$0.00
Total
$5,000.00

Also funds 0 other sitting lawmakers.

Derived recipient stock · on Aug 28, 2024. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Name match, not a verified identity: normalized filed name and state.

Sources

Derived itemized flow · on Aug 28, 2024. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Report IDs: 100968332.

Richard Weekley$5,000.00
Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC$5,000.00

Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC

$5,000.00

Cash
$5,000.00
Paid by others
$0.00
Total
$5,000.00

Also funds 124 other sitting lawmakers.

Derived recipient stock · Jul 10, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

TEC account match.

Team
Sources

Derived itemized flow · on Jun 24, 2025. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Report IDs: 101011601.

Money

Missing data does not establish zero giving. Display amounts are rounded.

×

Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of TX

$5,000.00

Cash
$5,000.00
Paid by others
$0.00
Total
$5,000.00

Also funds 0 other sitting lawmakers.

Derived recipient stock · on Aug 28, 2024. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Name match, not a verified identity: normalized filed name and state.

Sources

Derived itemized flow · on Aug 28, 2024. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Report IDs: 100968332.

×

Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC

$5,000.00

Cash
$5,000.00
Paid by others
$0.00
Total
$5,000.00

Also funds 124 other sitting lawmakers.

Derived recipient stock · Jul 10, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

TEC account match.

Team
Sources

Derived itemized flow · on Jun 24, 2025. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Report IDs: 101011601.

Votes5

Senate May 22, 2025

Yea
31
Nay
0
Present, not voting
Not printed
Absent
Not printed
Excused
Not printed
Names

Senate journal

Names were not printed. No individual positions are inferred.

Sources

Senator Bettencourt moved that Senate Rule 7.18 and the Constitutional Rule requiring bills to be read on three several days be suspended and that HB 4490 be placed on its third reading and final passage. The motion prevailed by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0. The bill was read third time and was passed by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.

Published stock of positions for this vote, except where marked derived.

  • Yea: 31 (published)
  • Nay: 0 (published)
  • Present, not voting: Not printed
  • Absent: Not printed
  • Excused: Not printed

Senate journal. Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

Senate May 22, 2025

Yea
31
Nay
0
Present, not voting
Not printed
Absent
Not printed
Excused
Not printed
Names

Senate journal

Names were not printed. No individual positions are inferred.

Sources

Senator Bettencourt moved that Senate Rule 7.18 and the Constitutional Rule requiring bills to be read on three several days be suspended and that HB 4490 be placed on its third reading and final passage. The motion prevailed by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.

Published stock of positions for this vote, except where marked derived.

  • Yea: 31 (published)
  • Nay: 0 (published)
  • Present, not voting: Not printed
  • Absent: Not printed
  • Excused: Not printed

Senate journal. Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

Senate May 22, 2025

Yea
Not printed
Nay
Not printed
Present, not voting
Not printed
Absent
Not printed
Excused
Not printed
Names

Senate journal

Names were not printed. No individual positions are inferred.

Voice vote. No numeric tally or individual yeas are inferred.

Sources

The bill was read second time and was passed to third reading by a viva voce vote.

Published stock of positions for this vote, except where marked derived.

  • Yea: Not printed
  • Nay: Not printed
  • Present, not voting: Not printed
  • Absent: Not printed
  • Excused: Not printed

Senate journal. Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

House May 1, 2025

Yea
143
Nay
1
Present, not voting
1
Absent
2
Excused
3
Names

Named positions matched to lawmakers. See the journal for unmatched names.

House journal

Sources

Record 1141

HB 4490 was passed by (Record 1141): 143 Yeas, 1 Nays, 1 Present, not voting.

Published stock of positions for this vote, except where marked derived.

  • Yea: 143 (published)
  • Nay: 1 (published)
  • Present, not voting: 1 (published)
  • Absent: 2 (derived from named list)
  • Excused: 3 (derived from named list)

House journal. Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

House Apr 30, 2025

Yea
140
Nay
0
Present, not voting
1
Absent
4
Excused
5
Names

Named positions matched to lawmakers. See the journal for unmatched names.

House journal

Sources

Record 1100

HB 4490 was passed to engrossment by (Record 1100): 140 Yeas, 0 Nays, 1 Present, not voting.

Published stock of positions for this vote, except where marked derived.

  • Yea: 140 (published)
  • Nay: 0 (published)
  • Present, not voting: 1 (published)
  • Absent: 4 (derived from named list)
  • Excused: 5 (derived from named list)

House journal. Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

Witnesses15
For
15
Against
0
On
0
Names

For

  • City of Houston2 registrations
  • Conference of urban Counties1 registration
  • El Paso County1 registration
  • Harris County Commissioner Court1 registration
  • Self3 registrations
  • Self; Harris County Commissioners Court1 registration
  • Tarrant County Administrator's Office1 registration
  • Travis County Commissioners Court2 registrations
  • Travis County Medical Examiner3 registrations
Sources

15 parsed registrations across the loaded witness lists.

Derived stock of witness registrations. Repeated appearances count separately. Organizations and self-representation appear as printed.

House witness list. Source snapshot 2026-10-20, Central time.

Senate witness list. Source snapshot 2026-10-20, Central time.

Fiscal

No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

LBB estimate · fiscal note version E · source

Sources

Fiscal note · version E · May 14, 2025

No first-year general revenue figure available here.

LBB published estimates · flow over the stated periods.

Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

How this was graded

Analysis of text version I by claude-opus-5-5, Oct 20, 2026, against the published rubric.

Sources

Texas House · Filed Mar 12, 2025

06/20/2025 E Effective immediately

Texas Legislature Online · Introduced · House Committee Report · Engrossed · Senate Committee Report · Enrolled

Data snapshot Oct 26, 2026 at 4:20 AM CDT. Grades, charges, quotes and corrections follow the published record.

Coauthors
Lulu FloresDHouse 51 Penny Morales ShawDHouse 148
Sponsors
Paul BettencourtRSenate 7

House committee · Public Health · Committee vote 12 aye, 0 nay, 1 absent · Out of committee

Senate committee · Business & Commerce · Committee vote 11 aye, 0 nay · Out of committee

Companion

SB 2067 by Bettencourt (identical)

Subjects

Protection of Personal Information

SUBPOENAS

Text

The text as introduced · 225 words

By: Smithee
H.B. No. 4490

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to an exemption from required disclosure of information

related to the next of kin of deceased persons.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 11, Article 49.25, Code of Criminal

Procedure, is amended by adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:

(d) The information relating to the next of kin of a

decedent is excepted from required public disclosure in accordance

with Chapter 552, Government Code, but is subject to disclosure

under subpoena or authority of other law.

SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies to a

request for information that is received by a governmental body or

an officer of public information on or after the effective date of

this Act. A request for information that was received before the

effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the

date the request was received, and the former law is continued in

effect for that purpose.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives

a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as

provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this

Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this

Act takes effect September 1, 2025.