---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to the use of appropriated money by the Texas State Guard for recruiting and retention purposes."
description: "Relating to the use of appropriated money by the Texas State Guard for recruiting and retention purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tx"
legislature: "Texas Legislature"
session: "88"
identifier: "SB 538"
citation: "Texas SB 538 (88)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["MILITARY DEPARTMENT", "TEXAS (V0971)", "Military & Veterans (I0535)", "STATE GUARD", "TEXAS (V6397)", "State Finances--Management & Control (I0748)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["King", "Lopez, Janie", "Morales, Eddie", "Raymond"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 46
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2023-01-20"
last_action: "2023-06-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d45f17dd-c5cb-484c-aa5c-800ea7187c0e"
source_url: "ftp://ftp.legis.state.tx.us/bills/88R/billhistory/senate_bills/SB00500_SB00599/SB 538.xml"
source_hash: "f15b8bf272a76e2835008582292fe4b3174dc8c417886148aab32f308a5d918a"
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 538 (88) — Relating to the use of appropriated money by the Texas State Guard for recruiting and retention purposes.

## 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/SB00538I.HTM)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/SB00538E.HTM)
3. **House Committee Report** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/SB00538H.HTM)
4. **Senate Committee Report** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/SB00538S.HTM)
5. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/SB00538F.HTM)

## Votes

- passage — **144–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- King — primary (person)
- Lopez, Janie — primary (person)
- Morales, Eddie — primary (person)
- Raymond — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-01-20** Received by the Secretary of the Senate `filing, introduction`
- **2023-01-20** Filed `filing`
- **2023-02-17** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2023-02-17** Referred to Vet Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-21** Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
- **2023-03-21** Considered in public hearing
- **2023-03-21** Testimony taken in committee
- **2023-03-21** Vote taken in committee
- **2023-03-23** Reported favorably as substituted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-23** Recommended for local & uncontested calendar
- **2023-03-23** Committee report printed and distributed
- **2023-03-27** Placed on intent calendar
- **2023-03-28** Not again placed on intent calendar
- **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`
- **2023-04-04** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2023-04-04** Referred to Defense & Veterans' Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2023-04-20** Considered in public hearing
- **2023-04-20** Reported favorably w/o amendment(s) `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-02** Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator `filing`
- **2023-05-02** Committee report distributed
- **2023-05-03** Committee report sent to Calendars
- **2023-05-15** Considered in Calendars
- **2023-05-17** Placed on General State Calendar
- **2023-05-17** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2023-05-17** Passed to 3rd reading
- **2023-05-18** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2023-05-18** Passed `passage`
- **2023-05-18** Record vote
- **2023-05-18** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2023-05-18** House passage reported `passage`
- **2023-05-18** Reported enrolled `enrolled`
- **2023-05-18** Signed in the Senate `passage`
- **2023-05-19** Signed in the House `passage`
- **2023-05-19** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-06-02** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2023-06-02** Effective immediately `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d45f17dd-c5cb-484c-aa5c-800ea7187c0e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Texas legislature records).