What Is
What Is the Texas Genomic Act
The Texas Genomic Act of 2025 (§174.001), Health and Safety Code chapter 174, was enacted as HB 130 and took effect September 1, 2025. Its purpose is to keep foreign adversaries from obtaining Texans' genetic information. It applies to any medical facility, research facility, company, or nonprofit organization that conducts research on or testing of genome sequencing or the human genome in Texas (§174.003). A “foreign adversary” has the meaning given in federal Commerce Department rules, 15 C.F.R. §791.4(a) (§174.002).
A covered entity may not:
- use a genome sequencer or sequencing software produced by or on behalf of a foreign adversary, a state-owned enterprise of one, a company or nonprofit domiciled in one, or an owned or controlled subsidiary or affiliate of such a company or nonprofit (§174.005);
- sell or otherwise transfer genome sequencing data of Texas residents to those parties as part of a bankruptcy proceeding or under a Chapter 11 reorganization plan, for filings made on or after September 1, 2025 (§174.006);
- store genome sequencing data of Texas residents in a foreign adversary country (§174.007(a)); or
- fail to keep that data, other than open data, inaccessible to any person located in a foreign adversary country (§174.007(c)).
An entity storing that data, directly or through a contractor, must protect it with reasonable encryption methods, restrictions on access, and other cybersecurity best practices (§174.007(b)). The open-data qualification in subsection (c) does not excuse the storage ban: open data may remain accessible abroad, but it still may not be stored in a foreign adversary country. The exception in §174.007(d) is not a whole-Act exemption. Section 174.007 alone does not apply to genome sequencing data collected as part of a clinical trial or other biomedical research study that is subject to, or conducted in accordance with, the federal Justice Department data security rule, 28 C.F.R. part 202.
By December 31 of each year, each covered entity must certify to the Attorney General that it complies with the chapter; an attorney representing the entity must submit the certification (§174.008).
The Attorney General may investigate and sue for a civil penalty of $10,000 per violation, plus costs and fees (§§174.009, 174.010). A Texas resident who is a patient or research subject of a covered entity and who is harmed by the storage or use of the patient's or subject's genome sequencing data in violation of this chapter may bring an action for the greater of actual damages or statutory damages of up to $5,000 per violation, plus court costs and reasonable attorney's fees (§174.011). The Act applies to causes of action accruing on or after September 1, 2025.
Pinpoint: Tex. Health & Safety Code ch. 174.