---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to prohibited governmental entity implementation or enforcement of a vaccine mandate, mask requirement, or private business or school closure to prevent the spread of COVID-19."
description: "Relating to prohibited governmental entity implementation or enforcement of a vaccine mandate, mask requirement, or private business or school closure to prevent the spread of COVID-19."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tx"
legislature: "Texas Legislature"
session: "88"
identifier: "SB 29"
citation: "Texas SB 29 (88)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["COVID-19 (SB9YM)", "City Government--General (I0060)", "County Government--General (I0096)", "Education--School Districts (I0220)", "Health--General (I0385)", "Health--Other Diseases & Medical Conditions (I0383)", "IMMUNIZATIONS (S4341)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Birdwell", "Gerdes", "Lozano"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 83
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2023-03-09"
last_action: "2023-06-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ba1cb5a1-bbf6-40fe-b0f1-9d5aa0404e60"
source_url: "ftp://ftp.legis.state.tx.us/bills/88R/billhistory/senate_bills/SB00001_SB00099/SB 29.xml"
source_hash: "ce1ce008536d754b29ce7781fcd362143e2346ba321e3f37a04f0808e5ee9eb3"
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 29 (88) — Relating to prohibited governmental entity implementation or enforcement of a vaccine mandate, mask requirement, or private business or school closure to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

## 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/88R/billtext/html/SB00029I.HTM)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/SB00029E.HTM)
3. **House Committee Report** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/SB00029H.HTM)
4. **Senate Committee Report** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/SB00029S.HTM)
5. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/SB00029F.HTM)

## Votes

- passage — **20–10** (pass) · upper
- passage — **90–53** (pass) · upper
- passage — **86–53** (pass) · lower
- passage — **90–53** (pass) · lower
- passage — **87–60** (pass) · lower
- passage — **20–11** (pass) · upper
- passage — **20–11** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Birdwell — primary (person)
- Gerdes — primary (person)
- Lozano — primary (person)
- Bettencourt — cosponsor (person)
- Blanco — cosponsor (person)
- Campbell — cosponsor (person)
- Creighton — cosponsor (person)
- Flores — cosponsor (person)
- Hall — cosponsor (person)
- Hancock — cosponsor (person)
- Huffman — cosponsor (person)
- Hughes — cosponsor (person)
- King — cosponsor (person)
- Kolkhorst — cosponsor (person)
- Middleton — cosponsor (person)
- Parker — cosponsor (person)
- Paxton — cosponsor (person)
- Perry — cosponsor (person)
- Schwertner — cosponsor (person)
- Sparks — cosponsor (person)
- Springer — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-03-09** Received by the Secretary of the Senate `filing, introduction`
- **2023-03-09** Filed `filing`
- **2023-03-09** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2023-03-09** Referred to State Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-16** Co-author authorized
- **2023-03-20** Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
- **2023-03-20** Considered in public hearing
- **2023-03-20** Testimony taken in committee
- **2023-03-20** Vote taken in committee
- **2023-03-22** Reported favorably w/o amendments `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-22** Committee report printed and distributed
- **2023-03-23** Co-author authorized
- **2023-03-29** Co-author authorized
- **2023-03-29** Placed on intent calendar
- **2023-03-30** Co-author authorized
- **2023-03-30** Rules suspended-Regular order of business
- **2023-03-30** Record vote
- **2023-03-30** Read 2nd time & passed to engrossment `reading-2`
- **2023-03-30** Record vote
- **2023-04-03** Co-author authorized
- **2023-04-03** Rules suspended-Regular order of business
- **2023-04-03** Record vote
- **2023-04-03** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2023-04-03** Passed `passage`
- **2023-04-03** Record vote
- **2023-04-03** Reported engrossed
- **2023-04-04** Received from the Senate `introduction`
- **2023-04-13** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2023-04-13** Referred to State Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2023-05-10** Considered in public hearing
- **2023-05-10** Committee substitute considered in committee `substitution`
- **2023-05-10** Testimony taken/registration(s) recorded in committee
- **2023-05-10** Left pending in committee
- **2023-05-17** Considered in public hearing
- **2023-05-17** Committee substitute considered in committee `substitution`
- **2023-05-17** Reported favorably as substituted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-19** Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator `filing`
- **2023-05-20** Committee report distributed
- **2023-05-20** Committee report sent to Calendars
- **2023-05-20** Considered in Calendars
- **2023-05-22** Placed on Major State Calendar
- **2023-05-22** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2023-05-22** Amended `amendment-passage`
- **2023-05-22** Amended `amendment-passage`
- **2023-05-22** Amendment(s) offered `amendment-introduction`
- **2023-05-22** Point of order sustained (amendment)
- **2023-05-22** Amendment(s) offered `amendment-introduction`
- **2023-05-22** Point of order sustained (amendment)
- **2023-05-22** Passed to 3rd reading as amended `amendment-passage`
- **2023-05-22** Record vote
- **2023-05-22** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2023-05-23** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2023-05-23** Passed `passage`
- **2023-05-23** Record vote
- **2023-05-23** House passage as amended reported `amendment-passage`
- **2023-05-25** House amendment(s) laid before the Senate
- **2023-05-25** Read
- **2023-05-25** Senate refuses to concur
- **2023-05-25** Senate requests conference committee
- **2023-05-25** Senate appoints conferees
- **2023-05-25** Senate refuses to concur-reported
- **2023-05-25** Senate requests conference committee-reported
- **2023-05-25** Senate appoints conferees-reported
- **2023-05-26** House grants request for conference committee
- **2023-05-26** House appoints conferees
- **2023-05-26** House grants request for conf comm-reported
- **2023-05-26** House appoints conferees-reported
- **2023-05-26** Conference committee report filed `filing`
- **2023-05-26** Corrected Conference committee report filed `filing`
- **2023-05-26** Conf. Comm. Report distributed
- **2023-05-28** Senate adopts conference committee report `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-28** Record vote
- **2023-05-28** Senate adopts conf. comm. report-reported
- **2023-05-28** House adopts conference committee report `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-28** Record vote
- **2023-05-28** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2023-05-28** House adopts conf. comm. report-reported
- **2023-05-29** Reported enrolled `enrolled`
- **2023-05-29** Signed in the Senate `passage`
- **2023-05-29** Signed in the House `passage`
- **2023-05-29** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-06-02** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2023-06-02** Effective on 9/1/23 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ba1cb5a1-bbf6-40fe-b0f1-9d5aa0404e60`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Texas legislature records).