---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to the assessment of litigation costs and attorney's fees in certain actions under the public information law."
description: "Relating to the assessment of litigation costs and attorney's fees in certain actions under the public information law."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tx"
legislature: "Texas Legislature"
session: "86"
identifier: "SB 988"
citation: "Texas SB 988 (86)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Civil Remedies & Liabilities (I0065)", "Open Records (I0548)", "ATTORNEY'S FEES (S0202)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Capriglione", "Watson"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 45
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2019-02-22"
last_action: "2019-06-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d2e393b2-e742-4afc-840a-9cb59deef9d2"
source_url: "ftp://ftp.legis.state.tx.us/bills/86R/billhistory/senate_bills/SB00900_SB00999/SB 988.xml"
source_hash: "e88d6e48f0f4e29c002517ce079bb69cda478aea68e003fa0c32a3a0d3da3eb7"
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 988 (86) — Relating to the assessment of litigation costs and attorney's fees in certain actions under the public information law.

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/86R/billtext/html/SB00988I.HTM)

## Votes

- passage — **139–2** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Capriglione — primary (person)
- Watson — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-22** Received by the Secretary of the Senate `filing`
- **2019-02-22** Filed `filing`
- **2019-03-01** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2019-03-01** Referred to Business & Commerce `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-26** Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
- **2019-03-26** Considered in public hearing
- **2019-03-26** Left pending in committee
- **2019-03-28** Considered in public hearing
- **2019-04-01** Reported favorably w/o amendments `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-04-01** Recommended for local & uncontested calendar
- **2019-04-01** Committee report printed and distributed
- **2019-04-02** Placed on intent calendar
- **2019-04-04** Rules suspended-Regular order of business
- **2019-04-04** Read 2nd time & passed to engrossment
- **2019-04-04** Vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-04-04** Three day rule suspended
- **2019-04-04** Record vote
- **2019-04-04** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2019-04-04** Passed `passage`
- **2019-04-04** Record vote
- **2019-04-04** Reported engrossed
- **2019-04-05** Received from the Senate `introduction`
- **2019-04-08** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2019-04-08** Referred to State Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-25** Scheduled for formal meeting on . . .
- **2019-04-25** Considered in formal meeting
- **2019-04-25** Reported favorably w/o amendment(s) `committee-passage`
- **2019-04-30** Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator
- **2019-04-30** Committee report distributed
- **2019-05-01** Committee report sent to Calendars
- **2019-05-17** Considered in Calendars
- **2019-05-20** Placed on General State Calendar
- **2019-05-20** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2019-05-20** Passed to 3rd reading
- **2019-05-21** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2019-05-21** Passed `passage`
- **2019-05-21** Record vote
- **2019-05-21** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-05-21** House passage 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`
- **2019-06-10** 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/d2e393b2-e742-4afc-840a-9cb59deef9d2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Texas legislature records).