HB 40

📣 HB 40 – The Corporate Court Expansion Texans Didn’t Ask For
Bill Author: Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R-HD81)
Topic: Business Litigation / Judiciary Reform
Status: Signed into law

What it claims to do:
HB 40 expands the Texas Business Court system, which was created in 2023 through HB 19. Supporters say it's meant to speed up complex business cases and take pressure off local courts. But once you dig into the language, a very different picture emerges.

What it really does:
HB 40 builds a parallel court system—one designed by and for large corporations, PACs, and industry insiders. Here’s how:

➡️ Creates a second-tier legal system: Big business cases are rerouted away from your local, elected judges and into a new Business Court where the judges are appointed, not chosen by voters. This court gets to rule on cases involving banks, oil and gas interests, mineral rights, arbitration, and more.

➡️ Strips your local court of power: Appeals from the Business Court no longer go to your regional Court of Appeals. Instead, they are sent to a new, centralized Fifteenth Court of Appeals, handpicked to handle these high-value corporate cases.

➡️ Concentrates judicial power at the top: The Texas Supreme Court now gets to create all the rules for this new court system—with no legislative review and no requirement for public transparency.

➡️ Tilts the playing field toward the powerful: Small business owners, plaintiffs, or counties trying to sue large corporations will face a more complex, less familiar legal process. Meanwhile, major industries like oil & gas, banking, and development—who lobbied for this bill—get faster rulings from judges who understand their side of the law.

Who supported it?
Texans for Lawsuit Reform
Texas Association of Business
NFIB
Energy Transfer
Texas Civil Justice League
Texas Business Law Foundation

Who opposed it?
Dallas County
Bexar County
Local attorneys and advocates for plaintiffs and working-class litigants

Why it matters:
This bill isn’t just about court procedure. It’s about power. HB 40 moves judicial control away from the people and into a tightly controlled system backed by PACs and special interests. It gives corporate defendants a courtroom advantage while leaving regular Texans in a system with fewer options and less oversight.

What we should be asking:

Why are these judges appointed, not elected?

Why are appeals locked into one handpicked court?

Why is there no public reporting or financial accountability for how this new system operates?

Bottom line:
HB 40 may sound like court modernization, but it's actually judicial privatization. It sets up a pipeline where business elites can handle their disputes in a court tailored to their needs—shielded from public courts, local communities, and everyday accountability.

Texans deserve a justice system that works for everyone—not just for those with the right lobbyists. Let’s keep watching what’s being done in our name."