HB272

Regular Session

Relating to the prosecution of the offense of fraudulent use or possession of credit card or debit card information.

LowStandard timeline

Low Cost

Effective:2025-06-20

Enforcing Agencies

District Attorneys • County Attorneys • State Prosecutors

Compliance Analysis

Key implementation requirements and action items for compliance with this legislation

Implementation Timeline

Effective Date: June 20, 2025 (Immediate effect due to supermajority vote).
Compliance Deadline: June 20, 2025 (Applies to all criminal proceedings commencing on or after this date).
Agency Rulemaking: None. This statute is self-executing for the courts and prosecutors; no agency guidance will follow.

Immediate Action Plan

Notify Loss Prevention: Issue a memo immediately informing LP directors that venue options for fraud referrals have expanded as of June 20, 2025.
Update Evidence Protocols: Ensure fraud investigation logs automatically capture and preserve the victim’s billing address alongside transaction data to support future venue claims.
Review Active Investigations: For ongoing internal fraud investigations (e.g., employee theft of customer data) that have not yet been referred to police, evaluate if the victim's home county offers a more aggressive prosecutorial path than the local jurisdiction.

Operational Changes Required

Contracts

No changes required. This statute affects criminal procedure, not commercial or employment agreements.

Hiring/Training

Loss Prevention & Legal Staff: Update training for staff responsible for referring fraud cases to law enforcement. They must understand that they can now engage District Attorneys in the county where the *customer* lives, which may offer a more favorable prosecutorial environment than the county where your servers or stores are located.

Reporting & Record-Keeping

Evidence Packaging: When compiling fraud packets for prosecution, ensure your data exports clearly link the fraudulent transaction to the victim's billing address/residency. This data point is now the legal hook for establishing venue jurisdiction.

Fees & Costs

None. There are no filing fees or state levies associated with this legislation.

Strategic Ambiguities & Considerations

Jurisdictional Conflict: The law allows prosecution in the victim's county but does not establish priority if the county where the crime occurred also seeks jurisdiction. Multi-jurisdictional retailers may face competing subpoenas from different District Attorneys (e.g., a rural DA representing the victim vs. an urban DA where the transaction occurred). Your Legal Department must be prepared to manage these conflicting demands for evidence.

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Legislative Timeline

This bill's path through the Texas Legislature

TopicsCrimes Crimes--against Property Criminal Procedure Criminal Procedure--general Financial Financial--general Protection of Personal Information Credit & Debit Cards Fraud

Official Analysis

View HRO Analysis View All Bill Documents

BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 272

By: Perez, Mary Ann

Pensions, Investments & Financial Services

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The 86th Legislature passed H.B. 2624 and H.B. 2625 to help combat organized financial crimes such as card skimming. These bills authorized an offense of credit card or debit card abuse to be prosecuted in any county in which the offense was committed or in a county where a victim of the offense resides and created the offense of fraudulent use or possession of credit card or debit card information. H.B. 272 seeks to build on this work in an effort to better fight credit card and debit card skimming related crimes in Texas by extending that venue flexibility to the offense of fraudulent use or possession of credit or debit card information and including such an offense among the offenses for which intent to defraud any particular person does not need to be proved in the trial of the offense.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 272 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to authorize the prosecution of fraudulent use or possession of credit card or debit card information in any county in which the offense was committed or in the county of residence for any person whose credit card or debit card information was unlawfully obtained, possessed, transferred, or used by the defendant. The bill establishes that the state's attorney is not required to prove that such a defendant committed the act with intent to defraud any particular person and that it is sufficient to prove that the offense was, in its nature, calculated to injure or defraud any of the sovereignties, bodies corporate or politic, officers or persons named in the definition of the offense.

H.B. 272 applies only to a criminal proceeding that commences on or after the bill's effective date. A criminal proceeding that commenced before the bill's effective date is governed by the law in effect on the date the proceeding commenced, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.

House Authors

Rep. Mary PerezDemocrat · Primary Author

Senate Sponsor

Sen. Judith ZaffiriniDemocrat · Primary Sponsor

Bill Text(with markup)

H.B. No. 272

View bill text in multiple formats on Texas Legislature website

Fiscal NoteView Original

	AN ACT
	relating to the prosecution of the offense of fraudulent use or
	possession of credit card or debit card information.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1. Subchapter F, Chapter 13A, Code of Criminal
	Procedure, is amended by adding Article 13A.2551 to read as
	follows:
	Art. 13A.2551. FRAUDULENT USE OR POSSESSION OF CREDIT CARD
	OR DEBIT CARD INFORMATION. An offense under Section 32.315, Penal
	Code, may be prosecuted in any county in which the offense was
	committed or in the county of residence for any person whose credit
	card or debit card information was unlawfully obtained, possessed,
	transferred, or used by the defendant.
	SECTION 2. Article 38.19(a), Code of Criminal Procedure, is
	amended to read as follows:
	(a) This article applies to the trial of an offense under
	any of the following sections of the Penal Code:
	(1) Section 32.21 (Forgery);
	(2) Section 32.31 (Credit Card or Debit Card Abuse);
	[or]
	(3) Section 32.51 (Fraudulent Use or Possession of
	Identifying Information); or
	(4) Section 32.315 (Fraudulent Use or Possession of
	Credit Card or Debit Card Information).
	SECTION 3. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
	a criminal proceeding that commences on or after the effective date
	of this Act. A criminal proceeding that commenced before the
	effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
	date the proceeding commenced, and the former law is continued in
	effect for that purpose.
	SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.

LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 89TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION


March 15, 2025

TO:	Honorable Stan Lambert, Chair, House Committee on Pensions, Investments & Financial Services

FROM:	Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board

IN RE:	HB272 by Perez, Mary Ann (Relating to the prosecution of the offense of fraudulent use or possession of credit card or debit card information.), As Introduced

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

It is assumed that any costs associated with the bill could be absorbed using existing resources.

Local Government Impact

No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.

Source Agencies:

212 Office of Court Administration, Texas Judicial Council

LBB Staff:

JMc, FV, DA, NTh

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Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about HB272

What does Texas HB272 do?

HB 272 expands the venue for prosecuting credit card fraud to include the county of the victim's residence, rather than solely where the transaction or theft occurred. While this creates no new regulatory burdens for businesses, it significantly alters how your Loss Prevention and Legal departments must package evidence and interact with law enforcement during fraud investigations. Implementation Timeline Effective Date: June 20, 2025 (Immediate effect due to supermajority vote).

Who authored HB272?

HB272 was authored by Texas Representative Mary Perez during the Regular Session.

When was HB272 signed into law?

HB272 was signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott on June 20, 2025.

Which agencies enforce HB272?

HB272 is enforced by District Attorneys, County Attorneys and State Prosecutors.

How urgent is compliance with HB272?

The compliance urgency for HB272 is rated as "low". Businesses and organizations should review the requirements and timeline to ensure timely compliance.

What is the cost impact of HB272?

The cost impact of HB272 is estimated as "low". This may vary based on industry and implementation requirements.

What topics does HB272 address?

HB272 addresses topics including crimes, crimes--against property, criminal procedure, criminal procedure--general and financial.

Legislative data provided by LegiScanLast updated: November 25, 2025

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