---
title: "SB687: Relating to liability for land surveying services in or in connection with certain construction or services contracts."
bill_number: SB687
session: Regular Session
status: Enacted
filed_date: 2024-12-20
signed_date: 2025-05-30
effective_date: 2025-09-01
primary_author: Bryan Hughes (R)
subjects:
  - City Government
  - City Government--General
  - Civil Remedies & Liabilities
  - County Government
  - County Government--General
  - SURVEYORS
  - BUILDING CONSTRUCTION
compliance_urgency: critical
cost_impact: low
canonical_url: "https://jdkey.com/texas-89th-legislature/sb687-89th-regular"
source: JD Key Consulting - Texas Legislative Intelligence
---

# SB687: Relating to liability for land surveying services in or in connection with certain construction or services contracts.

**Status:** Signed into Law (May 30, 2025)
**Effective Date:** 2025-09-01

## Summary

## Executive Summary
SB687 extends statutory liability protections—previously reserved for architects and engineers—to land surveyors, rendering broad-form indemnification and "duty to defend" clauses in construction contracts void and unenforceable. Developers, General Contractors, and Government entities must immediately revise Master Service Agreements (MSAs) to align with these restrictions or risk holding void contracts.

## Implementation Timeline
- **Effective Date:** September 1, 2025
- **Compliance Deadline:** September 1, 2025
    *   *Note:* The law is prospective. Contracts entered into *before* this date remain valid under prior law. All agreements signed on or after this date must comply.
- **Agency Rulemaking:** None. This is a statutory change to the Civil Practice and Remedies Code and Local Government Code; it is self-executing and enforced by the courts, not a regulatory agency.

## Operational Changes Required

### Contracts
**Critical Action:** You must overhaul your Standard Professional Services Agreements and MSAs for survey work.
*   **Indemnification:** Remove clauses requiring the surveyor to indemnify you for *your* negligence. Limit indemnity strictly to the surveyor’s own negligence or breach.
*   **Duty to Defend:** Delete requirements for the surveyor to "defend" you (pay legal fees upfront). Replace with a clause requiring **reimbursement** of attorney’s fees only after liability is adjudicated and only in proportion to the surveyor's percentage of fault.
*   **Standard of Care:** Remove any language requiring "highest professional standards," "best practices," or "trust and confidence." Revert to the statutory standard: "ordinary professional skill and care."

### Hiring/Training
*   **Procurement Teams:** Train purchasing agents and project managers that they cannot force surveyors to sign old templates. Attempting to enforce a void clause is a waste of legal spend.
*   **Insurance Verification:** Since you lose the "duty to defend," you must rely more heavily on insurance. Mandate that surveyors name your entity as an **Additional Insured** on their General Liability policies. This is your primary shield now.

### Reporting & Record-Keeping
*   **Contract Segregation:** Update your document management system to flag contracts based on the September 1, 2025, cutoff. In the event of a claim, your legal team needs to know instantly which liability regime applies.

### Fees & Costs
*   **Legal Spend:** Budget for immediate outside counsel fees to redline standard contract templates.
*   **Litigation Cash Flow:** Owners and GCs must budget to front their own defense costs in disputes involving surveyors. You will no longer be able to tender the defense to the surveyor immediately; you must fund the defense and seek reimbursement later.

## Strategic Ambiguities
*   **"In Connection With Construction":** The law applies to contracts for services "in connection with" construction. It is unclear if a survey for a pure real estate transaction (with no immediate construction planned) falls under this protection.
    *   *Strategy:* Assume the law applies to **all** survey contracts to avoid litigation over statutory interpretation.
*   **Reimbursement Mechanics:** While the law allows for reimbursement of legal fees, it does not define the timeline for payment after adjudication. This will likely be a point of contention in settlement agreements.

## Action Plan
1.  **Redline Templates:** Instruct counsel to strip "Duty to Defend" and elevated "Standard of Care" clauses from all surveyor MSAs immediately.
2.  **Update Insurance Requirements:** Revise vendor checklists to ensure "Additional Insured" status is mandatory and verified for all surveyors.
3.  **Audit Renewals:** Identify any long-term vendor agreements set to renew after September 1, 2025, and renegotiate terms now.
4.  **Notify Project Managers:** Issue an internal memo forbidding the use of pre-2025 contract templates for new engagements after August 31.

## Compliance Badges
- **Urgency:** **Critical** (Contract revisions require lead time)
- **Cost Impact:** **Low** (Administrative/Legal fees only)
- **Primary Enforcing Agency:** **Texas Civil Courts** (via contract litigation)

## Business Impact

- **Compliance Urgency:** Critical
- **Cost Impact:** Low

## Official Analysis

**BILL ANALYSIS**





|

Senate
  Research Center

 |

S.B. 687

 |
 |

|

89R1463 MZM-F

 |

By: Hughes

 |
 |

|



 |

State Affairs

 |
 |

|



 |

2/21/2025

 |
 |

|



 |

As Filed

 |
 |








**AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF
INTENT**



Large
construction contracts sometimes include third party liability clauses. These
clauses are designed to make subcontractors such as land surveyors, architects,
and engineers liable for the negligence of third parties working on the same
project. In these contracts, subcontractors such as land surveyors can thus be
held liable for negligence for which they are not in any way responsible.
Further, third party liability is often uninsurable, so these subcontractors
have no way to protect themselves under these contracts.



For this
reason, the 87th Legislature overwhelmingly passed H.B. 2116, which invalidated
contract provisions that made architects and engineers liable for the
negligence of third parties in certain construction contracts. S.B. 687 extends
those same protections to land surveyors. Upon passage of this bill, land
surveyors would be responsible only for their own negligence, not anyone
else's.



As proposed,
S.B. 687 amends current law relating to liability
for land surveying services in or in connection with certain construction or
services contracts.

** **

**RULEMAKING AUTHORITY**



This bill does not expressly grant any
additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.



**SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS**



SECTION 1. Amends Section 130.001, Civil
Practice and Remedies Code, as follows:



Sec. 130.001.� New heading: DEFINITIONS. Redefines "construction
contract" and defines "land surveyor."



SECTION 2. Amends Sections 130.002(a), (b),
(c), (d), and (f), Civil Practice and Remedies Code, as follows:



(a)� Provides that a covenant or promise in, in connection with, or
collateral to a construction contract is void and unenforceable if the covenant
or promise provides for a contractor who is to perform the work that is the
subject of the construction contract to indemnify or hold harmless a registered
architect, licensed engineer, or land surveyor, or an agent, servant, or
employee of a registered architect, licensed engineer, or land surveyor from
liability for damage that:



(1)� makes a conforming change to this subdivision; and



(2)� makes no changes to this subdivision.



(b)-(f)� Makes conforming changes to these subsections.



SECTION 3. Amends the heading to Section
130.0021, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, to read as follows:



Sec. 130.0021. ARCHITECT'S, ENGINEER'S, OR LAND SURVEYOR'S STANDARD OF
CARE.



SECTION 4. Amends Sections 130.0021(a) and
(b), Civil Practice and Remedies Code, to make conforming changes.



SECTION 5. Amends Section 130.004(b), Civil
Practice and Remedies Code, to make conforming changes.



SECTION 6. Amends Section 130.005, Civil
Practice and Remedies Code, to make conforming changes.



SECTION 7. Amends Section 271.904, Local
Government Code, as follows:



Sec. 271.904.� New heading: ENGINEERING, ARCHITECTURAL, OR LAND
SURVEYING SERVICES CONTRACTS: INDEMNIFICATION LIMITATIONS; DUTIES OF ENGINEER,
ARCHITECT, OR LAND SURVEYOR. (a) Provides that a covenant or promise in
relation to a contract for certain professional services, including land
surveying services, to which a government agency is a party is void and
unenforceable in certain instances. Makes a conforming change.



(b)-(e)� Makes conforming changes to these subsections.



(f) Defines "land surveyor" and makes nonsubstantive changes.
�



(g)� Makes a conforming change to this subsection.



SECTION 8. Makes application of this Act
prospective.



SECTION 9. Effective date: September 1,
2025.

## Topics

- City Government
- City Government--General
- Civil Remedies & Liabilities
- County Government
- County Government--General
- SURVEYORS
- BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

## Author

**Primary Author:** Bryan Hughes (R)

## Source Links

- [Full Interactive Analysis](https://jdkey.com/texas-89th-legislature/sb687-89th-regular)
- [Texas Legislature Online](https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=SB687)
- [LegiScan](https://legiscan.com/TX/bill/SB687/2025)

---

*Analysis provided by [JD Key Consulting](https://jdkey.com). For questions about Texas legislative strategy, contact us at [jdkey.com/contact](https://jdkey.com/contact).*