---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to county and municipal authority to balance bill for county or municipal air or ground ambulance services and to a study regarding billing by ground ambulance service providers."
description: "Relating to county and municipal authority to balance bill for county or municipal air or ground ambulance services and to a study regarding billing by ground ambulance service providers."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tx"
legislature: "Texas Legislature"
session: "87"
identifier: "SB 790"
citation: "Texas SB 790 (87)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["AMBULANCES (S0527)", "Consumer Protection (I0080)", "County Government--General (I0096)", "Insurance--Health & Accident (I0422)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Howard", "Zaffirini"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 53
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-02-24"
last_action: "2021-06-14"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/39c0906a-d6a8-462f-a1fc-1b58fe46c018"
source_url: "ftp://ftp.legis.state.tx.us/bills/87R/billhistory/senate_bills/SB00700_SB00799/SB 790.xml"
source_hash: "d45a00084b5f534479f4e76a2b538d307acfd3aff3ac0128a1c9deaae2b82d46"
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 790 (87) — Relating to county and municipal authority to balance bill for county or municipal air or ground ambulance services and to a study regarding billing by ground ambulance service providers.

## 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/SB00790I.HTM)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/87R/billtext/html/SB00790E.HTM)
3. **House Committee Report** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/87R/billtext/html/SB00790H.HTM)
4. **Senate Committee Report** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/87R/billtext/html/SB00790S.HTM)
5. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/87R/billtext/html/SB00790F.HTM)

## Votes

- passage — **117–26** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Howard — primary (person)
- Zaffirini — primary (person)
- Hancock — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-24** Received by the Secretary of the Senate `filing`
- **2021-02-24** Filed `filing`
- **2021-03-11** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2021-03-11** Referred to Business & Commerce `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-23** Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
- **2021-03-23** Considered in public hearing
- **2021-03-23** Left pending in committee
- **2021-03-30** Considered in public hearing
- **2021-03-31** Reported favorably w/o amendments `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-31** Recommended for local & uncontested calendar
- **2021-03-31** Committee report printed and distributed
- **2021-04-09** Placed on local & uncontested calendar
- **2021-04-09** Laid before the Senate
- **2021-04-09** Read 2nd time & passed to engrossment
- **2021-04-09** Vote recorded in Journal
- **2021-04-09** Three day rule suspended
- **2021-04-09** Record vote
- **2021-04-09** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2021-04-09** Passed `passage`
- **2021-04-09** Record vote
- **2021-04-09** Reported engrossed
- **2021-04-12** Received from the Senate `introduction`
- **2021-04-14** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2021-04-14** Referred to County Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-27** Considered in formal meeting
- **2021-04-27** Reported favorably w/o amendment(s) `committee-passage`
- **2021-04-29** Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator
- **2021-04-30** Committee report distributed
- **2021-04-30** Committee report sent to Calendars
- **2021-05-20** Considered in Calendars
- **2021-05-23** Placed on General State Calendar
- **2021-05-24** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2021-05-24** Amended `amendment-passage`
- **2021-05-24** Amended `amendment-passage`
- **2021-05-24** Passed to 3rd reading as amended
- **2021-05-24** Nonrecord vote recorded in Journal
- **2021-05-25** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2021-05-25** Passed `passage`
- **2021-05-25** Record vote
- **2021-05-25** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2021-05-25** House passage as amended reported
- **2021-05-28** Co-author authorized
- **2021-05-28** House amendment(s) laid before the Senate
- **2021-05-28** Read
- **2021-05-28** Senate concurs in House amendment(s)
- **2021-05-28** Record vote
- **2021-05-28** Senate concurs in House amendment(s)-reported
- **2021-05-29** Reported enrolled
- **2021-05-30** Signed in the Senate
- **2021-05-31** Signed in the House
- **2021-06-01** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-06-14** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2021-06-14** Effective on 9/1/21 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/39c0906a-d6a8-462f-a1fc-1b58fe46c018`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Texas legislature records).