---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to residential and commercial building requirements of municipalities, counties, and emergency services districts."
description: "Relating to residential and commercial building requirements of municipalities, counties, and emergency services districts."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tx"
legislature: "Texas Legislature"
session: "87"
identifier: "HB 738"
citation: "Texas HB 738 (87)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["BUILDING CONSTRUCTION (S0426)", "City Government--General (I0060)", "City Government--Land Use & Zoning (I0064)", "FIRE SAFETY & PREVENTION (S0273)", "Special Districts & Authorities--Miscellaneous (I0770)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Nichols", "Paul"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 58
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2020-12-04"
last_action: "2021-06-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d46c22e2-c670-4163-a976-e9571bf2f6df"
source_url: "ftp://ftp.legis.state.tx.us/bills/87R/billhistory/house_bills/HB00700_HB00799/HB 738.xml"
source_hash: "6e1e8a4a83842598fd240d644fa0f251ad50a5946233d4513c7697c9867cc3e0"
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 738 (87) — Relating to residential and commercial building requirements of municipalities, counties, and emergency services districts.

## 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/87R/billtext/html/HB00738I.HTM)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/87R/billtext/html/HB00738E.HTM)
3. **House Committee Report** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/87R/billtext/html/HB00738H.HTM)
4. **Senate Committee Report** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/87R/billtext/html/HB00738S.HTM)
5. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/87R/billtext/html/HB00738F.HTM)

## Votes

- passage — **134–10** (pass) · lower
- other — **134–10** (fail) · upper
- passage — **143–5** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Nichols — primary (person)
- Paul — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-12-04** Filed `filing`
- **2021-03-01** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2021-03-01** Referred to Land & Resource Management `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-16** Considered in public hearing
- **2021-03-16** Committee substitute considered in committee
- **2021-03-16** Testimony taken/registration(s) recorded in committee
- **2021-03-16** Left pending in committee
- **2021-03-23** Considered in public hearing
- **2021-03-23** Committee substitute considered in committee
- **2021-03-23** Reported favorably as substituted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-29** Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator
- **2021-03-29** Committee report distributed
- **2021-03-30** Committee report sent to Calendars
- **2021-04-01** Considered in Calendars
- **2021-04-07** Placed on General State Calendar
- **2021-04-07** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2021-04-07** Passed to engrossment
- **2021-04-07** Record vote
- **2021-04-07** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2021-04-08** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2021-04-08** Passed `passage`
- **2021-04-08** Record vote
- **2021-04-08** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2021-04-08** Reported engrossed
- **2021-04-08** Received from the House `introduction`
- **2021-04-12** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2021-04-12** Referred to Business & Commerce `referral-committee`
- **2021-05-04** Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
- **2021-05-04** Considered in public hearing
- **2021-05-04** Testimony taken in committee
- **2021-05-04** Left pending in committee
- **2021-05-06** Considered in public hearing
- **2021-05-10** Reported favorably as substituted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-05-10** Recommended for local & uncontested calendar
- **2021-05-10** Committee report printed and distributed
- **2021-05-19** Placed on local & uncontested calendar
- **2021-05-19** Laid before the Senate
- **2021-05-19** Read 2nd time & passed to 3rd reading
- **2021-05-19** Vote recorded in Journal
- **2021-05-19** Three day rule suspended
- **2021-05-19** Record vote
- **2021-05-19** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2021-05-19** Passed `passage`
- **2021-05-19** Record vote
- **2021-05-19** Senate passage as amended reported
- **2021-05-19** Senate Amendments distributed
- **2021-05-19** Senate Amendments Analysis distributed
- **2021-05-24** House concurs in Senate amendment(s)
- **2021-05-24** Record vote
- **2021-05-24** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2021-05-24** Text of Senate Amendment(s)
- **2021-05-24** House concurs in Senate amendment(s)-reported
- **2021-05-24** Reported enrolled
- **2021-05-25** Signed in the House
- **2021-05-26** Signed in the Senate
- **2021-05-26** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-06-07** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2021-06-07** See remarks for effective date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d46c22e2-c670-4163-a976-e9571bf2f6df`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Texas legislature records).