Texas House bill by Rep. Lopez expands criminal offense of disrupting meetings

Passed bill authored by State Rep. Ray Lopez aims to broaden the legal definition of disrupting lawful meetings or processions, including interference through physical, verbal, or electronic means, to address both in-person and virtual events, according to the Texas Legislature website.

In the House, 54 Democrats and 80 Republicans voted in favor of the bill, while one Republican opposed it.

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

Ray Lopez introduced the bill in the Texas House on Friday, March 14, during the 89th regular legislative session.

Lopez, a Democrat, was elected to the Texas State House in 2019 to represent the state’s 125th House district, replacing previous state representative Justin Rodriguez.

According to the Texas Legislature, the bill’s official text was summarized as follows: ‘Relating to the criminal offense of disrupting a meeting or procession’.

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

In essence, this bill amends Section 42.05(a) of the Texas Penal Code to expand the definition of the criminal offense of disrupting a meeting or procession. It specifies that a person commits an offense if, with the intent to prevent or disrupt a lawful meeting, whether in-person or virtual, they obstruct or interfere with the event through physical action, verbal utterance, or electronic disturbance, including hacking any virtual component of the meeting. The law change applies only to offenses committed on or after its effective date, which is set for Sept. 1, 2025. Activities conducted before this date are governed by the law in effect at the time of their commission.

The bill was co-authored by Rep. Giovanni Capriglione (Republican – District 98), Rep. Jessica Gonzalez (Democrat – District 104), and Rep. Penny Morales Shaw (Democrat – District 148).

The bill received its final legislative approval on Friday, May 16, and was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday, May 29.

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.