---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to the right of a member of the public to address the governing body of a political subdivision at an open meeting of the body."
description: "Relating to the right of a member of the public to address the governing body of a political subdivision at an open meeting of the body."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tx"
legislature: "Texas Legislature"
session: "86"
identifier: "HB 2840"
citation: "Texas HB 2840 (86)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["City Government--General (I0060)", "County Government--General (I0096)", "Elections--Administration (I0277)", "Elections--General (I0310)", "Open Meetings (I0546)", "Political Subdivisions (I0588)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Canales", "Guerra", "Guillen", "Hughes", "Raymond"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 51
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2019-03-01"
last_action: "2019-06-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b3b824d1-b20d-4a03-bb54-974622cdf6b9"
source_url: "ftp://ftp.legis.state.tx.us/bills/86R/billhistory/house_bills/HB02800_HB02899/HB 2840.xml"
source_hash: "b8d22a7bd79c85526406178b07cd76a0b69924ff9b641e421bd0566e5f8bb292"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-tx"]
---

# Texas HB 2840 (86) — Relating to the right of a member of the public to address the governing body of a political subdivision at an open meeting of the body.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/86R/billtext/html/HB02840I.HTM)

## Votes

- passage — **138–3** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Canales — primary (person)
- Guerra — primary (person)
- Guillen — primary (person)
- Hughes — primary (person)
- Raymond — primary (person)
- Hinojosa — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-03-01** Filed `filing`
- **2019-03-12** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2019-03-12** Referred to County Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-01** Posting rule suspended
- **2019-04-04** Considered in public hearing
- **2019-04-04** Testimony taken/registration(s) recorded in committee
- **2019-04-04** Left pending in committee
- **2019-04-16** Considered in formal meeting
- **2019-04-16** Reported favorably w/o amendment(s) `committee-passage`
- **2019-04-22** Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator
- **2019-04-22** Committee report distributed
- **2019-04-22** Committee report sent to Calendars
- **2019-04-29** Considered in Calendars
- **2019-05-01** Placed on General State Calendar
- **2019-05-02** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2019-05-02** Passed to engrossment
- **2019-05-02** Record vote
- **2019-05-02** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-05-03** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2019-05-03** Passed `passage`
- **2019-05-03** Record vote
- **2019-05-03** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-05-04** Reported engrossed
- **2019-05-06** Received from the House `introduction`
- **2019-05-10** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2019-05-10** Referred to Business & Commerce `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-15** Posting rule suspended
- **2019-05-16** Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
- **2019-05-16** Considered in public hearing
- **2019-05-16** Left pending in committee
- **2019-05-17** Considered in public hearing
- **2019-05-20** Co-sponsor authorized
- **2019-05-20** Reported favorably w/o amendments `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-05-20** Recommended for local & uncontested calendar
- **2019-05-20** Committee report printed and distributed
- **2019-05-22** Placed on local & uncontested calendar
- **2019-05-22** Laid before the Senate
- **2019-05-22** Read 2nd time & passed to 3rd reading
- **2019-05-22** Vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-05-22** Three day rule suspended
- **2019-05-22** Record vote
- **2019-05-22** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2019-05-22** Passed `passage`
- **2019-05-22** Record vote
- **2019-05-23** Senate passage reported
- **2019-05-23** Reported enrolled
- **2019-05-24** Signed in the House
- **2019-05-25** Signed in the Senate
- **2019-05-26** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-06-10** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2019-06-10** Effective on 9/1/19 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b3b824d1-b20d-4a03-bb54-974622cdf6b9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Texas legislature records).