Texas Senate Bill 29, passed during the 88th Legislative Session and effective September 1, 2023, permanently prohibits state and local government entities in Texas from imposing COVID-19 mask mandates, vaccine requirements, or forced closures of private businesses and schools. The law is codified in Chapter 81B of the Texas Health and Safety Code and replaced the temporary executive orders that governed pandemic restrictions during 2020 and 2021 with a fixed statutory framework.1Texas Legislature Online. Texas SB 29 88th Session – Introduced Version It binds every layer of state and local government, with narrow carve-outs for certain health care settings and conflicting federal requirements.
What SB 29 Prohibits
Three categories of government action are off the table under Chapter 81B.
Mask mandates. No governmental entity may impose, order, or enforce a requirement that a person wear a face mask or other face covering to prevent the spread of COVID-19.2Texas State Law Library. Mask Laws – COVID-19 and Texas Law The ban reaches any directive tied to the virus or its variants, regardless of transmission levels. County judges, city councils, and local health officials have no authority to issue masking orders, and no one may be penalized or denied government services for declining to wear a mask. Any local ordinance or agency rule to the contrary has no legal footing.
Vaccine requirements. Governmental entities cannot require any person to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.3State of Texas. Texas Health and Safety Code Section 81B.003 – Prohibited Vaccine Mandate That covers residents seeking government services and public-sector employees alike. A state agency, school district, or city cannot make vaccination a condition of employment, continued service, or access to a public program. The statute carries one federal carve-out: the prohibition applies only to the extent it does not conflict with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services interim final rule published on November 5, 2021, which required COVID-19 vaccination for staff at Medicare- and Medicaid-certified facilities. That CMS rule has since expired,4Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Interim Final Rule – COVID-19 Vaccine Immunization Requirements for Residents and Staff so the state prohibition now operates without a competing federal mandate.
Business and school closures. No governmental entity may order the closure of a private business, public school, open-enrollment charter school, or private school to prevent the spread of COVID-19.5State of Texas. Texas Health and Safety Code Section 81B.004 – Prohibited Business and School Closures School boards, county health departments, and city governments cannot unilaterally shut down campuses or commercial operations on COVID-19 grounds. Decisions about remote learning or reduced hours now sit with the institutions themselves.
Who Counts as a Governmental Entity
The statute reads “governmental entity” broadly. It covers the state, every state agency, and every local government entity defined by Section 418.004 of the Texas Government Code, which sweeps in counties, municipalities, and special districts such as hospital districts and water authorities. Open-enrollment charter schools are named specifically.6Texas Public Law. Texas Health and Safety Code Section 81B.001 – Definitions If an organization exercises governmental authority in Texas, Chapter 81B applies.
Health Care Facilities Are Exempt from the Mask Ban
Government-owned hospitals and health care facilities, including clinics operated by or associated with public universities, are exempt from the mask mandate prohibition. State-supported living centers, which provide residential care for people with intellectual disabilities, are also exempt.7BillTrack50. TX SB 29 – Bill Detail Administrators at those facilities keep discretion over masking and infection-control policies and can continue requiring masks in clinical areas without running afoul of Chapter 81B.
Private Employers Are a Separate Question
SB 29 reaches only governmental entities. Private employers are not covered by Chapter 81B. A separate law signed by Governor Abbott in November 2023, Senate Bill 7 from the 88th Legislature’s fourth special session, extended the vaccine mandate prohibition into the private sector: private businesses in Texas, including private health care providers, cannot require employees or contractors to get a COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of employment.
Private employers that adopt COVID-19-related workplace policies still have to comply with federal equal employment opportunity laws. The Americans with Disabilities Act allows qualifying employees to request reasonable accommodations from health-related workplace rules, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act requires employers to accommodate sincerely held religious beliefs unless doing so creates a substantial burden on the business, a standard the U.S. Supreme Court clarified in its 2023 Groff v. DeJoy decision.8U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws Those federal protections apply to employers with 15 or more employees regardless of any state-level prohibition.
Federal Workplace Safety Rules Still Apply in Health Care
Where Chapter 81B blocks governmental mask mandates, federal workplace safety law still operates in health care settings. OSHA’s respiratory protection standard requires covered employers to supply respirators when necessary to protect workers from airborne hazards and to maintain a written respiratory protection program, all at no cost to the employee.9Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Respiratory Protection Standard 1910.134 Those obligations stem from occupational hazard assessments, not from any COVID-19 order, so they live independently of SB 29. A hospital or clinic cannot rely on Chapter 81B to defeat a federal OSHA citation.
How the Prohibition Gets Enforced
Chapter 81B contains no specific penalty, fine schedule, or private right of action for violations. If a governmental entity issued a mandate anyway, the practical remedy would be a lawsuit for injunctive relief in state court, arguing that the entity exceeded its statutory authority. The law functions as a limit on government power rather than a penalty statute: a prohibited order risks being invalidated by a court, but no official faces an automatic fine or criminal charge simply for issuing one.