---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to recovery of damages, attorney's fees, and costs related to frivolous claims and regulatory actions by state agencies."
description: "Relating to recovery of damages, attorney's fees, and costs related to frivolous claims and regulatory actions by state agencies."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tx"
legislature: "Texas Legislature"
session: "86"
identifier: "SB 27"
citation: "Texas SB 27 (86)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Civil Remedies & Liabilities (I0065)", "State Agencies", "Boards & Commissions (I0749)", "State Agencies", "Boards & Commissions--Admin. Procedure (I0763)", "ATTORNEY'S FEES (S0202)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Hefner", "Hughes"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 62
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2019-03-07"
last_action: "2019-06-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2eaa6aed-1f92-44c0-8ed7-fcf23c06fe9e"
source_url: "ftp://ftp.legis.state.tx.us/bills/86R/billhistory/senate_bills/SB00001_SB00099/SB 27.xml"
source_hash: "3f1ea6d6a956315826cfa0ce8e6e43e725f4cc20967b7054ba19a06bfa085cc3"
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 SB 27 (86) — Relating to recovery of damages, attorney's fees, and costs related to frivolous claims and regulatory actions by state agencies.

## 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/SB00027I.HTM)

## Votes

- passage — **136–3** (pass) · lower
- other — **0–0** (fail) · upper
- other — **0–0** (fail) · upper

## Sponsors

- Hefner — primary (person)
- Hughes — primary (person)
- Bettencourt — cosponsor (person)
- Creighton — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-03-07** Received by the Secretary of the Senate `filing`
- **2019-03-07** Filed `filing`
- **2019-03-07** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2019-03-07** Referred to State Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-21** Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
- **2019-03-21** Meeting cancelled
- **2019-03-25** Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
- **2019-03-25** Considered in public hearing
- **2019-03-25** Testimony taken in committee
- **2019-03-27** Reported favorably as substituted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-03-27** Recommended for local & uncontested calendar
- **2019-03-27** Committee report printed and distributed
- **2019-04-02** Placed on intent calendar
- **2019-04-04** Not again placed on intent calendar
- **2019-04-08** Co-author authorized
- **2019-04-08** Placed on intent calendar
- **2019-04-08** Rules suspended-Regular order of business
- **2019-04-08** Vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-04-08** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2019-04-08** Amendment(s) offered `amendment-introduction`
- **2019-04-08** Amended `amendment-passage`
- **2019-04-08** Vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-04-08** Passed to engrossment as amended
- **2019-04-08** Vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-04-08** Three day rule suspended
- **2019-04-08** Record vote
- **2019-04-08** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2019-04-08** Passed `passage`
- **2019-04-08** Record vote
- **2019-04-08** Reported engrossed
- **2019-04-09** Received from the Senate `introduction`
- **2019-04-10** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2019-04-10** Referred to Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-23** Considered in public hearing
- **2019-04-23** Committee substitute considered in committee
- **2019-04-23** Testimony taken/registration(s) recorded in committee
- **2019-04-23** Left pending in committee
- **2019-04-29** Considered in public hearing
- **2019-04-29** Committee substitute considered in committee
- **2019-04-29** Reported favorably as substituted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-05-06** Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator
- **2019-05-06** Committee report distributed
- **2019-05-07** Committee report sent to Calendars
- **2019-05-10** Considered in Calendars
- **2019-05-13** Placed on General State Calendar
- **2019-05-13** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2019-05-13** Passed to 3rd reading
- **2019-05-14** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2019-05-14** Passed `passage`
- **2019-05-14** Record vote
- **2019-05-14** House passage as amended reported
- **2019-05-21** House amendment(s) laid before the Senate
- **2019-05-21** Read
- **2019-05-21** Senate concurs in House amendment(s)
- **2019-05-21** Record vote
- **2019-05-21** Senate concurs in House amendment(s)-reported
- **2019-05-21** Reported enrolled
- **2019-05-23** Signed in the Senate
- **2019-05-25** Signed in the House
- **2019-05-25** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-06-07** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2019-06-07** 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/2eaa6aed-1f92-44c0-8ed7-fcf23c06fe9e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Texas legislature records).