Over 250 laws took effect immediately after Abbott signed them, including measures banning cellphones in public schools, clarifying when doctors can perform emergency abortions and making it a crime to purchase or sell Texas lottery tickets online.
Keep reading to learn about some of the newest Texas laws currently in effect. The below list is not comprehensive.
1. Texas teachers now have more disciplinary authority
House Bill 6 gives public school teachers more discretion to remove students who are repeatedly disruptive or threaten the safety of others from the classroom. The change comes after nearly half of Texas public school teachers cited discipline issues as a top workplace challenge in 2022, according to the Texas Education Agency.
The law, which took effect immediately when Abbott signed it on June 20, allows schools to suspend students of any age who engage in “repeated or significant” disruptions, reversing a 2017 state law that generally prohibited schools from suspending students in pre-K through second grade. If students in kindergarten through third grade are sent home for behavioral issues, schools will have to provide documentation explaining their decision.
“A lot of the problems we see with our kids in high school is because they did not have consequences, none whatsoever, when they were younger,” bill author Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, said on the Texas House floor in April. “This bill restores the rights of our educators and our teachers, in conjunction with parents, to provide those consequences and to provide the necessary controls.”
HB 6 gives schools the option to place students in an in-school suspension for as long as they see fit. State law previously mandated that students could not be suspended for more than three school days, whether they were inside a school building or at home. The three-day time limit on out-of-school suspensions remains unchanged.
Leach’s bill also repealed a 2023 law that required students be placed in an off-campus discipline program if caught with vape devices at school. If it is a student’s first offense, HB 6 allows schools to use less severe punishments, such as in-school suspension.
“We want to provide flexibility at the community level to make sure that we respond effectively to students' behavior, because I just think some children need to understand and be told, ‘you made a mistake, you borrowed something, you took something, you were curious,’” Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, said on the Senate floor in May. “[This gives] the school still has the latitude to do that.”
2. Cellphones banned in all K-12 schools
When Texas public school students return to campus this fall, they will be prohibited from using cellphones, smart watches and other personal communication devices throughout the school day.
Abbott signed House Bill 1481 into law on June 20, giving school districts 90 days to adopt new electronic device policies, including disciplinary measures for students who violate the cellphone ban. Some school districts in Community Impact’s coverage areas, such as Conroe ISD, had adopted districtwide cellphone bans as of press time.
Texas’ 2026-27 state budget includes $20 million in grants to help districts implement the law. Lawmakers said districts could purchase pouches to store devices in during the school day or ask students to keep phones in their lockers or backpacks.
“We want our kids to focus on academics, such as math, science and reading, and the reality is, these phones are a distraction. ... Schools cite growing incidents of cyberbullying due to these phones,” bill author Rep. Caroline Fairly, R-Amarillo, said in March.
HB 1481 includes exceptions for students with medical needs or special education accommodations, and does not apply to devices supplied by school districts for academic purposes.
3. Law clarifies when Texas doctors can perform emergency abortions
A bipartisan measure aimed at clarifying when doctors can perform emergency abortions under Texas’ near-total ban became law June 20. Deemed the “Life of the Mother Act,” Senate Bill 31 standardizes the definition of a medical emergency in state statute and specifies that doctors do not need to wait to perform an abortion until a risk to their pregnant patient’s life is “imminent” or until the patient is physically impaired.
Texas’ maternal mortality rate rose by 56% in 2022, after state legislators passed a law banning the majority of abortions the year prior, according to a study from the Gender Equity Policy Institute, a research and advocacy nonprofit. The GEPI reported that the national maternal mortality rate rose by 11% from 2021-22.
House lawmakers noted in May that women have left Texas to receive “life-saving” abortions.
“We are in no way promoting abortion—what we are trying to do is save the life or the major bodily functions [of women],” bill sponsor Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, said. “I get a little emotional about this, but I've got friends who watched their wives nearly bleed out and become septic. That's the driver in this.”
4. Texas Lottery under new management following alleged fraud
Senate Bill 3070 will overhaul the Texas Lottery in the wake of what bill author Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood, has called “likely the most significant, most far-reaching lottery fraud in world history.”
The law, which took effect June 20, abolishes the state lottery commission. Beginning Sept. 1, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation will assume oversight of all Texas lottery games.
Hall had pushed to shut down the lottery entirely, noting in May that the Texas Lottery Commission violated state law in recent years by allowing lottery tickets to be purchased outside of businesses’ operating hours, online and by minors. He later called SB 3070 “the next best thing” instead of abolishing the lottery.
The new law allows lottery players to purchase up to 100 tickets in a single transaction, which can only occur in-person while a lottery retailer is open. The change comes after state senators said a single purchaser bought millions of dollars of lottery tickets during a 72-hour period in April 2023.
Lawmakers said they were concerned large bulk purchases could indicate fraud and money laundering.
SB 3070 also makes it a crime to purchase or sell Texas lottery tickets online or through a mobile app, banning lottery courier companies that accept online orders for lottery tickets and purchase them on behalf of customers.
5. Law seeks to strengthen Texas grid amid data center growth
Due to continued economic growth and hot, dry weather, Texas’ grid operator announced June 24 that the state is expected to set a new record for electric demand this summer. Senate Bill 6, which became law June 20, is aimed at improving grid reliability and ensuring large electric consumers are held accountable for their energy use.
The law directs customers that use at least 75 megawatts of power, such as data centers and industrial projects, to switch to backup generators to reduce strain on the grid during extreme conditions. Large electric consumers are also required to install equipment allowing the state to remotely disconnect power from their facilities, known as a “kill switch” provision.
Bill sponsor Rep. Ken King, R-Canadian, said in May that these rules would encourage large customers to rely fully on backup power during emergencies.
“We certainly don't want large-load customers that sometimes are data centers for military operations to just be without power,” King said.
After the Electric Reliability Council of Texas estimated in early 2025 that power demand could grow to about 150,000 megawatts by 2030, SB 6 adjusts how the grid operator measures future demand. Large customers that intend to join the state grid will be required to notify ERCOT if they are considering taking their projects to other states and pay their local utility company a $100,000 fee before the planning process begins.
6. Use of affordable housing tax breaks limited
House Bill 21, which became law May 28, seeks to prevent certain housing finance organizations from taking advantage of tax breaks used to incentivize the construction of affordable housing. Lawmakers said that “traveling” housing finance corporations throughout Texas have purchased developments hundreds of miles away from where they are located, designated the developments as affordable housing and received large tax exemptions—without making the property more affordable.
“There's no defined requirement for any true rent affordability that must be provided in terms of receiving this exemption,” bill author Rep. Gary Gates, R-Richmond, said in May. “Agencies are currently providing property tax exemptions for property within and outside the [jurisdiction] of their sponsoring entities, allowing private property developers to use HFCs as a tool to pull the property off of the tax rolls anywhere in the state.”
Gates said HB 21 creates stricter requirements for HFCs, including “geographical limitations” for where they can operate. This will ensure the organizations “provide public benefits to a community,” he said.
