🔴Relating to prohibiting the recognition, service, and enforcement of extreme risk protective orders; creating a criminal offense.

🔴 SB 1362: Texas-wide ban on red flag enforcement, felony attached

What it says it does:
Stops Texas from using “extreme risk protective orders” unless Texas law allows them, and keeps existing Texas protective orders in place.

What it actually changes:
Adds a state jail felony for serving or enforcing an ERPO on someone in Texas unless it is authorized by Texas law, blocks Texas agencies and local governments from taking federal grants that require red flag features, and preempts counties and cities from piloting red flag style policies.

Who is pushing for it:
Supporters in the files include Texas Gun Rights, National Rifle Association, Texas State Rifle Association, Gun Owners of America, True Texas Project, and the Texas Family Law Foundation.

Opponents in the files include Texas Gun Sense, Moms Demand Action, GIFFORDS, NAMI Texas, Texas Impact, the Texas Council on Family Violence, and a district attorney’s office.

Who benefits:
State leaders and advocacy groups who want a single statewide stance against red flag orders, family law practitioners keep current Texas protective order tools.

Who gets left out or exposed:
Local governments and line staff who lose discretion and face felony risk in close cases, communities that rely on flexible public safety grants if federal rules later bundle red flag conditions, victim services in thin-budget counties.

Why this matters long term:
If federal programs tie ERPO features to broader public safety funding, Texas must refuse the money by law, with no required public accounting. That can shrink court tech, victim transport, and coordination, and it locks in one rule that counties cannot adapt when situations on the ground change.

What to watch next:
Clear written guidance and training for officers and clerks, any year one report of grants declined and services reduced, changes in protective order processing time, outcomes in documented threat cases, local attempts to seek state backfill if funds are refused.

Bottom line:
This is a power and funding choice, not just a message. It draws a bright line against red flag orders, enforces it with a felony, and pre-commits Texas to reject future funding that requires red flag features, while leaving locals with fewer options when budgets tighten and cases get complicated.

Questions to ask lawmakers:

1. If federal safety funds add red flag conditions later, how will you disclose which dollars are declined and what services are cut in each county?
2. What training or safe harbor will protect officers and clerks in close cases so lawful protective orders still move fast and families stay safe?
3. If locals cannot pilot narrow tools, what alternatives will the state scale to handle the same risks?

#SB1362 #TexasPolicy #StayInformed #TexasPublicSafety #LocalControl #CriminalJustice