Rep. Senfronia Thompson introduced HB 793, a bill on Courts and Family, to the Texas House on Tuesday, Nov. 12 during the 89(R) legislative session, according to the Texas Legislature website.
More specifically, the official text was summarized by the state legislature as ’’relating to the confidentiality of certain personal information of an applicant for or a person protected by a protective order’’.
The following is our breakdown, based on the actual bill text, and may include interpretation to clarify its provisions.
This bill mandates courts to protect and maintain the confidentiality of certain personal information for applicants of protective orders, specifically concerning mailing addresses and counties of residence. It requires courts to exclude this information from public records and from protective orders upon request by impacted individuals or their family members. Additionally, during hearings, individuals must be informed of their right to confidentiality regarding their address and telephone numbers. The bill also provides for confidentiality in any changes to contact information filed with the court. The bill is applicable to new and pending applications effective from Sept. 1, 2025.
Senfronia Thompson, the vice chair of the House Committee on Licensing & Administrative Procedures, proposed another 31 bills during the 89(R) legislative session. She is also a member of the House Committee on State Affairs.
Thompson graduated from Texas Southern University with a BS and again from Thurgood Marshall School of Law with a JD.
Senfronia Thompson is currently serving in the Texas State House, representing the state’s 141st House district. She replaced previous state representative Gib Lewis in 1983.
Bills in Texas go through a multi-step legislative process, including committee review, debates, and votes in both chambers before reaching a final decision. Each session, there are typically thousands of bills introduced, but only a portion successfully navigate the process to become law.
You can read more about the bills and other measures here.
| Bill Number | Date Introduced | Short Description |
|---|---|---|
| HB 914 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to repealing civil asset forfeiture provisions and establishing criminal asset forfeiture in this state |
| HB 909 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to law enforcement misconduct and law enforcement interactions with certain detained or arrested individuals and other members of the public, to public entity liability for those interactions, and to the confinement, conviction, or release of detained or arrested individuals |
| HB 902 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to the powers and duties of peace officers |
| HB 896 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to the prohibition on the use of a neck restraint by a peace officer during a search or arrest |
| HB 888 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to the duty of a peace officer to request and render aid for an injured person |
| HB 881 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to a progressive disciplinary matrix for police officer misconduct in certain municipalities |
| HB 870 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to requiring the corroboration of certain testimony in a criminal case involving a controlled substance |
| HB 864 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to the procedure for an application for a writ of habeas corpus based on certain new evidence |
| HB 858 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to the date on which certain persons placed on deferred adjudication community supervision are eligible to file a petition for an order of nondisclosure of criminal history record information |
| HB 852 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to air quality permits for concrete batch plants located in certain areas |
| HB 844 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to the authority of a municipality or county to request a hearing from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality related to the construction of a concrete plant |
| HB 835 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to unlawful employment practices with respect to compensation and wage history |
| HB 823 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to the recovery of exemplary damages based on a compensable death under the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act |
| HB 809 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to the execution of a waiver of citation by digitized signature in a suit for the dissolution of a marriage |
| HB 782 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to the transfer of a protective order |
| HB 754 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to human trafficking prevention, including training for medical assistants, disclosure of human trafficking information by certain health care facilities, and protection for facility employees who report human trafficking |
| HB 742 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to human trafficking prevention, including training for first responders, disclosure of human trafficking information by certain health care facilities, and protection for facility employees who report human trafficking |
| HB 728 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to certain policies and procedures for the placement and use of video cameras in certain classrooms, including classrooms that provide special education services |
| HB 709 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to the requirement and study of insurance coverage for serious emotional disturbance of a child |
| HB 688 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to the applicability of the death penalty to a capital offense committed by a person with an intellectual disability |
| HB 673 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to the eligibility of certain first responders for workers’ compensation benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder |
| HB 656 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to law enforcement policies regarding the issuance of citations for misdemeanors punishable by fine only and to a limitation on the authority to arrest a person for certain fine-only misdemeanors |
| HB 624 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to the placement on community supervision, including deferred adjudication community supervision, of a defendant who is the primary caretaker of a child |
| HB 589 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to combating human trafficking by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation |
| HB 539 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to orders of nondisclosure for certain victims of trafficking of persons or compelling prostitution |
| HB 491 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to certain civil penalties collected for violations of laws regulating massage therapy |
| HB 451 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to a screening for the risk of commercial sexual exploitation of certain children |
| HB 372 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to the affirmative defense to prosecution for a criminal offense for persons acting under duress |
| HB 280 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to the authority of a court to terminate the sentence of certain persons released on parole |
| HB 185 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to the creation of the Mental Health and Brain Research Institute of Texas |
| HB 1222 | 11/12/2024 | Relating to postconviction forensic DNA testing |
