Monitoring the Session

SB 2383

bill letting DPS rehire its own retired officers

Became law, effective Sep 1, 2025

Verdict: No flags

No flagsInitial review
Sen. Paul BettencourtRSenate 7

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 the employment of certain peace officers of the Department of Public Safety.

Caption from analyzed text · version I.

Summary

Retired DPS officers come back, minus three subsections.

The bill lets the Department of Public Safety rehire its own retired commissioned officers as commissioned officers without applying three existing subsections of the DPS employment law, (e), (e-1), and (f). It touches retirees of the Employees Retirement System of Texas whose last job before retiring was as a DPS commissioned officer, and the department that hires them. Starting September 1, 2025, those rehired retirees are exempt from whatever those three subsections require, but only if they are hired on or after that date.

Receipt

The receipt

89R-SB2383 · 2025-03-12

SOLD BY

Sen. Paul BettencourtRSenate 7

ITEM

relating to the employment of certain peace officers of the Department of Public Safety.

WHAT IT DOES

Retired DPS officers come back, minus three subsections.

The bill lets the Department of Public Safety rehire its own retired commissioned officers as commissioned officers without applying three existing subsections of the DPS employment law, (e), (e-1), and (f). It touches retirees of the Employees Retirement System of Texas whose last job before retiring was as a DPS commissioned officer, and the department that hires them. Starting September 1, 2025, those rehired retirees are exempt from whatever those three subsections require, but only if they are hired on or after that date.

CHARGES

[ ] NONE FOUND

TOTAL

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

LBB estimate · fiscal note version I · source

Sources

Fiscal note · version I · April 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. Received by the Secretary of the Senate
  2. Filed
  3. Read first time
  4. Referred to Criminal Justice
  5. Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
  6. Considered in public hearing
  7. Testimony taken in committee
  8. Vote taken in committee
  9. Reported favorably w/o amendments
  10. Recommended for local & uncontested calendar
  11. Committee report printed and distributed
  12. Placed on local & uncontested calendar
  13. Laid before the Senate
  14. Read 2nd time & passed to engrossment
  15. Vote recorded in Journal
  16. Three day rule suspended
  17. Record vote
  18. Read 3rd time
  19. Passed
  20. Record vote
  21. Reported engrossed
  22. Received from the Senate
  23. Read first time
  24. Referred to Homeland Security, Public Safety & Veterans' Affairs
  25. Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
  26. Considered in public hearing
  27. Testimony taken/registration(s) recorded in committee
  28. Left pending in committee
  29. Considered in formal meeting
  30. Reported favorably w/o amendment(s)
  31. Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator
  32. Committee report distributed
  33. Committee report sent to Calendars
  34. Considered in Calendars
  35. Placed on General State Calendar
  36. Read 2nd time
  37. Passed to 3rd reading
  38. Record vote RV#3070
  39. Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
  40. Read 3rd time
  41. Passed
  42. Record vote RV#3129
  43. Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
  44. House passage reported
  45. Reported enrolled
  46. Signed in the Senate
  47. Signed in the House
  48. Sent to the Governor
  49. Signed by the Governor
  50. Effective on 9/1/25
FILED UNDER

No verified beat found.

SIGNED FOR BY

House · 140 yea · 0 nay

Senate · 31 yea · 0 nay

Sources

House: Final passage · May 21, 2025. Journal. Published stock for this vote. Snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

Senate: Final passage · May 1, 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

Paul Bettencourt

Donors

Donors report through Friends of Paul Bettencourt.

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 · Oct 27, 2024 to Jun 30, 2026. 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.

Money

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

Votes5

House May 21, 2025

Yea
140
Nay
0
Present, not voting
2
Absent
2
Excused
6
Names

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

House journal

Sources

Record 3129

SB 2383 was passed by (Record 3129): 140 Yeas, 0 Nays, 2 Present, not voting.

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

  • Yea: 140 (published)
  • Nay: 0 (published)
  • Present, not voting: 2 (published)
  • Absent: 2 (derived from named list)
  • Excused: 6 (derived from named list)

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

House May 20, 2025

Yea
138
Nay
0
Present, not voting
2
Absent
1
Excused
9
Names

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

House journal

Sources

Record 3070

SB 2383 was passed to third reading by (Record 3070): 138 Yeas, 0 Nays, 2 Present, not voting.

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

  • Yea: 138 (published)
  • Nay: 0 (published)
  • Present, not voting: 2 (published)
  • Absent: 1 (derived from named list)
  • Excused: 9 (derived from named list)

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

Senate May 1, 2025

Final passage

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.

The journal row lists three votes in order: passage to engrossment, suspension of the three-day rule, and final passage. This entry records final passage. Repeated tallies belong to separate votes.

Sources

SB 2383 (Bettencourt) Relating to the employment of certain peace officers of the Department of Public Safety. (viva voce vote) (31-0) (31-0)

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 1, 2025

Suspension of the three-day rule

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.

The journal row lists three votes in order: passage to engrossment, suspension of the three-day rule, and final passage. This entry records suspension of the three-day rule. Repeated tallies belong to separate votes.

Sources

SB 2383 (Bettencourt) Relating to the employment of certain peace officers of the Department of Public Safety. (viva voce vote) (31-0) (31-0)

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 1, 2025

Passage to engrossment

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.

The journal row lists three votes in order: passage to engrossment, suspension of the three-day rule, and final passage. This entry records passage to engrossment. Repeated tallies belong to separate votes.

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

Sources

SB 2383 (Bettencourt) Relating to the employment of certain peace officers of the Department of Public Safety. (viva voce vote) (31-0) (31-0)

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.

Witnesses12
For
10
Against
0
On
2
Names

For

  • DPS Officers Association1 registration
  • Game Warden Peace Officers Association1 registration
  • Harris County Deputies' Organization FOP #391 registration
  • Self1 registration
  • Self; Houston Police Officers’ Union2 registrations
  • Sheriffs’ Association of Texas1 registration
  • Texas Municipal Police Association1 registration
  • Texas Municipal Police Association (TMPA)1 registration
  • Texas Public Employees Association1 registration

On

  • Texas DPS2 registrations
Sources

12 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 significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

LBB estimate · fiscal note version I · source

Sources

Fiscal note · version I · April 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 Senate · Filed Mar 12, 2025

06/20/2025 E Effective on 9/1/25

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

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

Sponsors
Cole HefnerRHouse 5

House committee · Homeland Security, Public Safety & Veterans' Affairs · Committee vote 11 aye, 0 nay · Out of committee

Senate committee · Criminal Justice · Committee vote 7 aye, 0 nay · Out of committee

Subjects

Law Enforcement

Retirement Systems--Police & Firefighters

Retirement Systems--State Employees

State Agencies, Boards & Commissions

PEACE OFFICERS

PUBLIC SAFETY, DEPARTMENT OF

Text

The text as introduced · 154 words

89R10590 JCG-F

By: Bettencourt
S.B. No. 2383

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the employment of certain peace officers of the

Department of Public Safety.

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

SECTION 1. Section 411.007, Government Code, is amended by

adding Subsections (h) and (i) to read as follows:

(h) Subsections (e), (e-1), and (f) do not apply to a

retired commissioned officer who is employed by the department as a

commissioned officer.

(i) For purposes of Subsection (h), a "retired commissioned

officer" means a retiree of the Employees Retirement System of

Texas whose last employment position held before retirement under

that system was as a commissioned officer of the department.

SECTION 2. Section 411.007, Government Code, as amended by

this Act, applies only to a person hired on or after the effective

date of this Act.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.