Proposed Texas Bill Would Roll Back Pandemic-Era Tenant Protections Meant To Slow Evictions

A Republican-led bill that would prevent city and county governments from extending the length of eviction notices is making its way through the Texas Legislature.

House Bill 2035, authored by Rep. Shelby Slawson, a Republican from Stephenville, would require adherence to the state’s mandated three-day notice for evictions, according to reporting by Bloomberg. The bill was drafted in response to ordinances passed by cities like Dallas, Austin and San Marcos, which extended notice minimums in the wake of the pandemic. 

“We already have a uniform property code that applies equally across 254 counties,” Slawson told Bloomberg. “We depend upon that uniformity and reliability. We can’t allow the restructuring of those laws by municipalities around the state.”

Austin and Dallas require seven and 10 days' notice, respectively, before landlords can file an eviction notice. San Marcos requires 90 days, per Bloomberg.

The idea was to give tenants time to apply for federal rent relief funds, though the $3.4B set aside for that purpose has already dried up. As of March 30, all funds had been committed and the portal was permanently closed, according to an announcement on the Texas Rent Relief website.

HB 2035 would preempt tenant protections passed by cities and counties, and it would also prevent other local governments from following suit. Tenant rights advocates worry this could lead to even more evictions, which have been on the rise as Covid-19-era protections and funding are rolled back. 

“There’s an incredible, extraordinary need for assistance from renters in the state of Texas right now,” Texas Housers Research Director Ben Martin said in an interview with KXAN in Austin. “We’ve seen evictions rising throughout 2022 and into 2023. Renters are really experiencing a crisis right now.”

Opponents of the bill say extensions are needed to stave off the thousands of evictions seen in Texas since the start of the pandemic. Harris County — home to Houston, the state’s most populous city — saw eviction filings jump by 200% year-over-year in March, according to Eviction Lab data reported by Bloomberg. 

In Dallas County, more than 76,000 eviction notices were filed between the start of 2021 and the end of March 2023, according to the North Texas Eviction Project. 

Slawson’s bill was heard in committee on April 3. If passed, it could take effect in September — or immediately if the bill wins a supermajority vote, according to Bloomberg.