The civic record
Read. Follow. Verify.Texas requires public hearings for oil and gas drilling permits within 1,500 feet of schools and child-care facilities
Last action · March 10, 2025: Referred to Energy ResourcesSponsor: Chris Turner
Track this bill to get notified when it advances a stage. One tap to stop, anytime.
What This Bill Proposed
Relating to the requirement of a public hearing on certain applications for a permit to drill an oil or gas well.
Schools and child-care operators face new requirements for public input when energy development occurs nearby, while oil and gas permit applicants must clear a mandatory hearing step before approvals can be granted within 1,500 feet of educational and childcare properties.
- The Railroad Commission of Texas is the state agency that regulates the oil and gas industry, gas utilities, pipeline safety, safety in the liquefied petroleum gas industry, and coal and uranium surface mining. context
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Oil and gas permit applicants
Applicants must indicate proximity to schools and child-care facilities on permit applications and may be subject to a mandatory public hearing before approval.
Child-care facilities and schools
Facilities located within 1,500 feet of a proposed well site become the threshold reference for mandatory public hearings.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
What distance triggers the public hearing requirement for a new oil or gas well?
Who is responsible for holding the public hearing?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
Follow the record
Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · in House committee.
Procedural history
3 actions- Mar 10, 2025HouseCommitteeReferred to Energy Resources
- Mar 10, 2025HouseIntroducedRead first time
- Nov 12, 2024HouseIntroducedFiled
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Mandatory Local Public Hearings for Near-School Drilling
The legislation ties oil and gas permit approvals near educational and child-care sites directly to local public hearings and comment consideration.
Connected Entities
Sources
capitol.texas.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 75)
- Controversy60Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz45Current news / social attention level
Publisher tools