---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to the duties of a justice of the peace, medical examiner, or other investigator regarding the bodies of unidentified deceased persons and to the control by certain persons of the disposition of a deceased person's remains."
description: "Relating to the duties of a justice of the peace, medical examiner, or other investigator regarding the bodies of unidentified deceased persons and to the control by certain persons of the disposition of a deceased person's remains."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tx"
legislature: "Texas Legislature"
session: "88"
identifier: "HB 3161"
citation: "Texas HB 3161 (88)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Crimes--Against Persons--General (I0170)", "Criminal Procedure--General (I0208)", "JUSTICE OF THE PEACE (S0133)", "Law Enforcement (I0510)", "Minors--Crimes Against (I0532)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Huffman", "Hull"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 56
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2023-03-01"
last_action: "2023-06-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/23c36fcb-3356-494c-a05a-5b9ef539ef5f"
source_url: "ftp://ftp.legis.state.tx.us/bills/88R/billhistory/house_bills/HB03100_HB03199/HB 3161.xml"
source_hash: "d3ebe4b8e7e7b020032ca1bbec24efe95c1da5c2ca8940d9e5c4f9e3101f2060"
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 3161 (88) — Relating to the duties of a justice of the peace, medical examiner, or other investigator regarding the bodies of unidentified deceased persons and to the control by certain persons of the disposition of a deceased person's remains.

## 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/HB03161I.HTM)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/HB03161E.HTM)
3. **House Committee Report** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/HB03161H.HTM)
4. **Senate Committee Report** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/HB03161S.HTM)
5. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/HB03161F.HTM)

## Votes

- passage — **139–5** (pass) · lower
- passage — **136–0** (pass) · lower
- passage — **136–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Huffman — primary (person)
- Hull — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-03-01** Filed `filing`
- **2023-03-15** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2023-03-15** Referred to Criminal Jurisprudence `referral-committee`
- **2023-04-11** Considered in public hearing
- **2023-04-11** Testimony taken/registration(s) recorded in committee
- **2023-04-11** Left pending in committee
- **2023-04-17** Considered in formal meeting
- **2023-04-17** Recommended to be sent to Local & Consent `referral-committee`
- **2023-04-17** Reported favorably w/o amendment(s) `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-04-25** Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator `filing`
- **2023-04-25** Committee report distributed
- **2023-04-25** Comm. report sent to Local & Consent Calendar
- **2023-04-28** Considered in Local & Consent Calendars
- **2023-05-02** Placed on Local, Consent, and Res. Calendar
- **2023-05-02** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2023-05-02** Passed to engrossment
- **2023-05-02** Nonrecord vote recorded in Journal
- **2023-05-02** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2023-05-02** Passed `passage`
- **2023-05-02** Record vote
- **2023-05-02** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2023-05-02** Nonrecord vote recorded in Journal
- **2023-05-02** Reported engrossed
- **2023-05-03** Received from the House `introduction`
- **2023-05-05** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2023-05-05** Referred to Criminal Justice `referral-committee`
- **2023-05-16** Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
- **2023-05-16** Considered in public hearing
- **2023-05-16** Testimony taken in committee
- **2023-05-16** Vote taken in committee
- **2023-05-17** Reported favorably as substituted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-17** Recommended for local & uncontested calendar
- **2023-05-17** Committee report printed and distributed
- **2023-05-21** Placed on intent calendar
- **2023-05-21** Placed on local & uncontested calendar
- **2023-05-21** Laid before the Senate `receipt`
- **2023-05-21** Read 2nd time & passed to 3rd reading `reading-2`
- **2023-05-21** Vote recorded in Journal
- **2023-05-21** Three day rule suspended
- **2023-05-21** Record vote
- **2023-05-21** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2023-05-21** Passed `passage`
- **2023-05-21** Record vote
- **2023-05-22** Senate passage as amended reported `amendment-passage`
- **2023-05-22** Senate Amendments distributed
- **2023-05-22** Senate Amendments Analysis distributed
- **2023-05-25** House concurs in Senate amendment(s)
- **2023-05-25** Record vote
- **2023-05-25** Text of Senate Amendment(s)
- **2023-05-25** House concurs in Senate amendment(s)-reported
- **2023-05-27** Reported enrolled `enrolled`
- **2023-05-28** Signed in the House `passage`
- **2023-05-29** Signed in the Senate `passage`
- **2023-05-30** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-06-12** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2023-06-12** 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/23c36fcb-3356-494c-a05a-5b9ef539ef5f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Texas legislature records).