Texas House bill by Rep. Cortez expands peace officer roles for defense base authorities

Newly passed bill authored by State Rep. Philip Cortez aims to empower defense base development authorities to employ peace officers with jurisdiction over related facilities and operations, seeking to clarify their authority under state law, according to the Texas Legislature website.

In the House, 57 Democrats and 76 Republicans voted in favor of the bill, with no opposition.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, 11 Democrats and 20 Republicans voted in favor, also with no opposing votes.

Philip Cortez introduced the bill in the Texas House on Monday, Feb. 24, during the 89th regular legislative session.

Cortez graduated from Palo Alto Community College in 2000 with an AA and again in 2002 from the University of Texas with a BA.

Cortez, a Democrat, was elected to the Texas State House in 2017 to represent the state’s 117th House district, replacing previous state representative Rick Galindo.

According to the Texas Legislature, the bill’s official text was summarized as follows: ‘Relating to the authority of a defense base development authority to employ and commission peace officers’.

The following is our breakdown, based on the actual bill text, and may include interpretation to clarify its provisions.

In essence, the bill amends Chapter 379B of the Local Government Code to empower a defense base development authority to employ and commission peace officers for preventing or addressing offenses related to port functions, facilities, and operations under state or local law. These peace officers’ jurisdiction extends to properties the authority owns or controls, where they hold authority in line with Chapter 14 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. Additionally, Article 2A.001 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is updated to include peace officers commissioned by a defense base development authority as a part of the recognized peace officer roles in Texas. Any conflicting acts from the 89th Legislature, Regular Session, 2025, are overridden by this Act, which takes effect Sept. 1, 2025.

The bill was co-authored by Rep. John Lujan (Republican – District 118), Rep. Ray Lopez (Democrat – District 125), and Rep. Mark Dorazio (Republican – District 122).

The bill received its final legislative approval on Friday, May 9, and was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott on Saturday, May 24.

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.