Texas
Texas has an independent Forensic Science Commission that accredits crime labs, licenses forensic analysts, and investigates negligence and misconduct. Since 2023 the State has let the Commission discipline labs directly, expanded DNA collection to every felony arrest, opened a route for booking-station rapid DNA, and barred hypnotically induced statements at trial.
At a glance
- Oversight body
- The Texas Forensic Science Commission: nine members appointed by the governor, administratively attached to the Office of Court Administration (Code of Criminal Procedure art. 38.01). It must require crime labs to report professional negligence or misconduct, must investigate allegations that would substantially affect the integrity of results, may start its own investigations, must publish its reports, and may refer cases to the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs (art. 38.01 sec. 4). It may discipline both license holders and crime labs (sec. 4-c).
- Lab accreditation
- Required. A forensic analysis, and testimony about it, is inadmissible in a criminal case if the lab was not accredited by the Commission when it did the work, unless an eligible lab is accredited before the testimony (art. 38.35(d), (e)). The statutory definition of forensic analysis excludes latent print exams, breath tests under Transportation Code chapter 724, digital evidence, presumptive tests for probation or parole compliance, exams not for a criminal purpose, and anything the Commission exempts by rule (38.35(a)(4)); autopsies by physician pathologists are also outside the article (38.35(f)).
- Analyst licensing
- Mandatory since January 1, 2019: a person may not act as a forensic analyst for an accredited crime lab without a Commission license (art. 38.01 sec. 4-a(b)). The statute requires the Commission’s rules to include education, coursework including courtroom testimony and ethics, an exam, and proficiency testing (sec. 4-a(d)). The 2-year term and renewal terms are set by rule in 37 TAC chapter 651, subchapter C: renewal requires 32 hours of continuing forensic education, at least 16 of them discipline-specific (at least 8 per discipline for multiple disciplines), including the Commission’s legal and professional responsibility course, which counts toward the 32 hours (Commission CFE page). Forensic technicians need only that course. The Commission also offers voluntary licenses in disciplines outside mandatory licensing.
- Admissibility standard
- Texas Rule of Evidence 702, which was not amended to track the 2023 change to Federal Rule 702 (Texas Rules of Evidence, as amended effective July 2, 2026). The leading reliability case, Kelly v. State, 824 S.W.2d 568 (Tex. Crim. App. 1992), could not be checked from official sources on October 19, 2026.
- Post-conviction forensic relief
- Yes. A habeas court may grant relief on scientific evidence that was not available at trial or that contradicts the scientific evidence the state relied on, if the person would not have been convicted by a preponderance of the evidence (art. 11.073). A change in the field, in the expert’s knowledge, or in a method can make evidence newly available (11.073(d)). Art. 11.0731 covers DNA evidence tested at a lab that stopped DNA testing after a Commission audit found faulty practices, and chapter 64 governs post-conviction DNA testing.
- DNA database scope
- DNA is collected at booking for any felony arrest for offenses on or after September 1, 2023, from people convicted of certain Class A and B misdemeanors (411.1471(b-1)), and from people registered as sex offenders or terrorist offenders, among others. Elimination samples may not go into the state database (Gov’t Code chapter 411, subchapter G).
Changes, 2023 to 2026
Commission rules: rapid DNA discipline, new licenses, exemptions
On July 25, 2025 the Commission amended Rule 651.5 to make rapid DNA analysis its own accreditation discipline, following an FBI change that lets rapid DNA crime scene samples be searched in CODIS under set conditions. On April 24, 2026 it voted to exempt exams of non-lethal munitions from accreditation and licensing (Rule 651.7) and to amend the Code of Professional Responsibility in Rule 651.219 to clarify, in the minutes’ words, its “applicability to accredited law enforcement agency crime laboratory managers only.” Earlier votes, including on July 26, 2024, revised license expiration dates (Rules 651.207 and 651.208) and added voluntary licenses, which by fiscal 2025 covered six new categories including latent print processing technicians and crime scene reconstruction analysts. The Texas Register effective dates of these rules could not be checked from official sources on October 19, 2026.
For practitioners: Labs running rapid DNA need accreditation in that discipline, not under general forensic biology.
Commission annual report, FY2025 Minutes, April 24, 2026 Minutes, July 26, 2024
Crime lab portal access limited to defense counsel
Gov’t Code 411.164 now lets prosecutors designate only the defendant’s attorney, not a defendant acting pro se, for access to the statewide crime lab records portal. It applies to proceedings that begin on or after September 1, 2025.
For practitioners: Lab records requests through the portal now come from defense counsel only.
Labs must report held DWI toxicology evidence each year
A crime lab holding blood or urine evidence in a Penal Code chapter 49 case must tell the county prosecutor each year, with the date received (art. 38.50(c-1)). Where a prosecutor’s office requires approval before destruction, the lab may destroy the evidence if the office does not deny a request in writing within 90 days and the retention period has expired (38.50(h)).
For practitioners: Calendar the annual notice and the 90-day window before destroying toxicology samples.
Survivors may consent to kit DNA testing without a police report
New Gov’t Code 420.0736 lets a sexual assault survivor give limited consent to Department of Public Safety DNA testing of kit evidence without reporting to law enforcement. Results from that testing are not compared with DNA databases or used in a criminal investigation or trial. SB 608 requires the annual report on the statewide kit tracking system to count kits that law enforcement did not collect within the deadlines in 420.035.
For practitioners: Do not upload or search profiles from limited-consent kits.
Rapid DNA by authorized law enforcement agencies
Lets the DPS director authorize law enforcement agencies to run rapid DNA analysis on specimens from arrestees and registrants and submit the results to the state DNA database (Gov’t Code 411.146(c-1), 411.147, 411.1471(d)(3), 411.1473(c)(3)). Rapid DNA is defined as processing a known reference or forensic sample in no more than 24 hours (411.141(13)), while the pilot defines it as a reference swab processed in no more than 2 hours without a crime lab (411.1465(a)). The director must set rapid DNA standards that meet or exceed the FBI Quality Assurance Standards (411.142(h)), and DPS may inspect authorized agencies (411.144(c)). DPS must run a two-county booking-station pilot starting by September 1, 2026, with a report due January 1, 2028. The act also allows FBI-approved personal information and criminal history in CODIS (411.143(e), (f)). The statute does not say whether a booking-station rapid DNA profile needs Commission accreditation under art. 38.35.
For practitioners: In a case built on a booking-station rapid DNA hit, ask whether the agency was authorized and how it met the FBI standards.
Elimination DNA kept out of CODIS and purged from lab databases
Defines DNA quality assurance databases and elimination samples (art. 38.01 sec. 2) and requires Commission rules that keep lab quality assurance databases separate from CODIS, bar elimination profiles from any other database, bar outside access, and require removal within 3 months of analysis (sec. 4-e). Gov’t Code 411.1431 bars elimination samples from the state DNA database, and the act struck biological specimens of deceased crime victims from what the database may hold (411.142(g)). By December 1, 2023, the Commission had to require labs to remove elimination records held more than 3 months, and DPS had to remove elimination records from the state database.
For practitioners: Purge elimination profiles from quality assurance databases within 3 months of analysis.
Commission may discipline crime labs; statewide lab records portal
Art. 38.01 sec. 4-c now lets the Commission discipline crime labs, not only license holders, for negligence, misconduct, or violations of the code of professional responsibility, by revoking, suspending, or refusing to renew accreditation, or by reprimand. Negligence and code violations were new grounds. HB 3474 made the same change to sec. 4-c. SB 991 also created a DPS portal for requesting and transferring crime lab records (Gov’t Code 411.161 to 411.164); lab participation is mandatory and enforceable by the Commission, and defense access runs through the prosecutor.
For practitioners: Negligence alone can now cost a lab its accreditation.
DNA taken at every felony arrest
Strikes the list of 24 enumerated Penal Code felonies from Gov’t Code 411.1471(a)(1), so DNA is taken at booking for any felony arrest. Courts already had to notify DPS on acquittal or dismissal; now the court must also request expunction of the DNA record (411.151(a)(1)(B)) and notify the defendant or counsel. Before, the person had to send DPS a certified order. Expunction orders go to the DPS director.
For practitioners: Expect far more arrestee profiles in CODIS, and check that expunctions follow acquittals and dismissals.
Match follow-up deadlines in assault kits
DPS already had to compare a sexual assault kit DNA profile with state databases and CODIS within 30 days after an accredited lab analyzes it and finishes quality review (Gov’t Code 420.043(a)); HB 4628 added a duty for the submitting lab to monitor its own database for resulting matches (420.043(a-1)). The submitting agency must answer lab requests about a match within 5 business days, and the agency must get written notice of case-to-case and verified offender matches within 60 business days after the lab is notified of the match (420.0431). Within 5 business days the agency must notify the survivor of the match or, if disclosure would interfere with the case, of the date it expects to disclose it (420.0432).
For practitioners: Track the 30-day comparison and 60-business-day notice deadlines for each kit.
Hypnotically induced statements inadmissible
New art. 38.24 makes statements made during or after investigative hypnosis by a law enforcement agency, including identifications of the accused, inadmissible against the defendant at either phase of trial for the offense investigated. Physical evidence and testimony of a witness identified through the session that independently corroborates the offense remain admissible. It applies to proceedings that began on or after September 1, 2023.
For practitioners: Do not rely on post-hypnosis recall from a witness in the case under investigation.
DNA collected from registered terrorist offenders
Creates a terrorist offender registry (Code of Criminal Procedure chapter 65) and extends DNA specimen collection under Gov’t Code 411.1473, which had covered only sex offender registrants, to people registered under chapter 65.
For practitioners: Registry status under chapter 65 now triggers DNA collection.
Checked and unchanged
- Art. 38.35 (accreditation and admissibility) was last amended in 2015. Art. 11.073 was last amended in 2015 and art. 11.0731 added in 2017. Chapter 64 (post-conviction DNA testing) was last amended in 2017.
- The text of Texas Rule of Evidence 702 is unchanged in the rules as amended effective July 2, 2026.
- No Texas statute was found that addresses forensic genetic genealogy or facial recognition evidence. The 2025 limit on government AI that identifies people by biometric data (HB 149, Bus. & Com. Code 552.054) excludes photographs and video from its definition of biometric data, but it separately bars government AI that identifies people by gathering images from the internet or other public sources without consent where that would infringe their legal rights, so it may reach some facial recognition tools.
- The Legislature is not in session; the 90th Legislature convenes in January 2027. Prefiled bills were not checked.
Last updated October 19, 2026Source: United States Council for Law & InvestigationCite as: United States Council for Law & Investigation, “Texas forensic science oversight: Forensic Science Tracker,” uscli.org/forensic-science-tracker/texas (last updated October 19, 2026). Text licensed CC BY 4.0.