---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to prices charged by a medical staffing services agency during certain designated public health disaster periods; providing a civil penalty."
description: "Relating to prices charged by a medical staffing services agency during certain designated public health disaster periods; providing a civil penalty."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tx"
legislature: "Texas Legislature"
session: "88"
identifier: "SB 401"
citation: "Texas SB 401 (88)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["ATTORNEY GENERAL (V2811)", "Business & Commerce--Trade Practices (I0006)", "Disaster Preparedness & Relief (I0211)", "Health Care Providers (I0387)", "Health--General (I0385)", "NURSES & NURSE AIDES (S2704)", "PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS (S0081)", "SURGICAL ASSISTANTS (S0468)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Harless", "Kolkhorst"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 54
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2023-01-12"
last_action: "2023-06-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b385249d-555d-4905-ad54-1cf5e532a255"
source_url: "ftp://ftp.legis.state.tx.us/bills/88R/billhistory/senate_bills/SB00400_SB00499/SB 401.xml"
source_hash: "b9663308a3018e08921f1e3bd67e42e2b77782a2d19fef95f00adb87eecbe29c"
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 401 (88) — Relating to prices charged by a medical staffing services agency during certain designated public health disaster periods; providing a civil penalty.

## 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/SB00401I.HTM)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/SB00401E.HTM)
3. **House Committee Report** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/SB00401H.HTM)
4. **Senate Committee Report** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/SB00401S.HTM)
5. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/SB00401F.HTM)

## Votes

- passage — **31–0** (pass) · upper
- passage — **128–15** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Harless — primary (person)
- Kolkhorst — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-01-12** Received by the Secretary of the Senate `filing, introduction`
- **2023-01-12** Filed `filing`
- **2023-02-15** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2023-02-15** Referred to Health & Human Services `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-15** Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
- **2023-03-15** Considered in public hearing
- **2023-03-15** Testimony taken in committee
- **2023-03-15** Vote taken in committee
- **2023-03-20** Reported favorably as substituted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-20** Recommended for local & uncontested calendar
- **2023-03-20** Committee report printed and distributed
- **2023-04-03** Placed on local & uncontested calendar
- **2023-04-03** Laid before the Senate `receipt`
- **2023-04-03** Read 2nd time & passed to engrossment `reading-2`
- **2023-04-03** Vote recorded in Journal
- **2023-04-03** Three day rule suspended
- **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
- **2023-04-03** Received from the Senate `introduction`
- **2023-04-17** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2023-04-17** Referred to Public Health `referral-committee`
- **2023-05-15** Considered in public hearing
- **2023-05-15** Committee substitute considered in committee `substitution`
- **2023-05-15** Testimony taken/registration(s) recorded in committee
- **2023-05-15** Left pending in committee
- **2023-05-18** Considered in formal meeting
- **2023-05-18** Committee substitute considered in committee `substitution`
- **2023-05-18** Reported favorably as substituted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-19** Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator `filing`
- **2023-05-19** Committee report distributed
- **2023-05-20** Committee report sent to Calendars
- **2023-05-20** Considered in Calendars
- **2023-05-22** Placed on General State Calendar
- **2023-05-22** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2023-05-22** Passed to 3rd reading
- **2023-05-23** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2023-05-23** Passed `passage`
- **2023-05-23** Record vote
- **2023-05-23** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **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 concurs in House amendment(s)
- **2023-05-25** Record vote
- **2023-05-25** Senate concurs in House amendment(s)-reported
- **2023-05-26** Reported enrolled `enrolled`
- **2023-05-28** Signed in the Senate `passage`
- **2023-05-29** Signed in the House `passage`
- **2023-05-29** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-06-18** Filed without the Governor's signature `became-law`
- **2023-06-18** 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/b385249d-555d-4905-ad54-1cf5e532a255`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Texas legislature records).