HB 4504 & Chapter 55A: The Full Article-by-Article Guide to the Modernized Texas Expunction Statute
On January 1, 2025, Texas moved its entire expunction machinery into a new home. Chapter 55A of the Code of Criminal Procedure replaced Chapter 55, the section numbers everyone had memorized got rewritten, and a handful of substantive cleanups that had been crammed into Chapter 55 over four decades finally got rationalized. This is the article-by-article guide we wish we’d had when the transition rolled out — what HB 4504 actually changed, what it left intact, and how to translate the old citations to the new ones.
- HB 4504 was the non-substantive recodification bill that produced Chapter 55A, effective January 1, 2025.
- The four eligibility pathways all moved — acquittal (55A.002), Class C deferred (55A.051), unfiled arrest (55A.052), and dismissed charge (55A.053).
- The Criminal Episode Rule got its own article — art. 55A.151 — with clearer same-arrest language than the buried old §55.01(c).
- The old Five-Year Felony Bar was deleted. Unrelated convictions no longer block expunction.
- Procedure (Subchapter C) and post-order distribution (Subchapter D) got modernized, dovetailing with SB 1667’s free electronic service mandate.
- SB 219 and HB 2708 — the proposed automatic-misdemeanor-expunction bills — did not pass. There is still no general automatic expunction in Texas.
1. Why Texas Replaced Chapter 55
Old Chapter 55 had grown organically since the late 1970s. Section §55.01 carried both eligibility rules and procedural requirements; §55.02 carried more procedure plus partial-relief carve-outs; §§55.03 through §55.06 carried duties that overlapped each other. The 86th, 87th, and 88th Legislatures all added pieces — juvenile expunction tweaks, human-trafficking victim provisions, Class C deferred expansions — without rationalizing the underlying structure. The result was a chapter that took a long time to teach, was difficult for district courts to apply consistently, and produced inconsistent results across counties.
The Texas Legislative Council’s ongoing non-substantive revision program had been working through criminal procedure for several sessions. HB 4504 was the vehicle that finally carried the expunction recodification across the finish line in the 88th Legislature (Regular Session 2023), with an effective date of January 1, 2025 to give bench, bar, and clerks time to adjust.
The result is a chapter that reads cleanly: General provisions in Subchapter A, eligibility pathways in Subchapter B, procedure in Subchapter C, post-order duties in Subchapter D. Like fingerprint records that move from file cabinets to a relational database, the underlying information didn’t change — just where you find it.
2. What HB 4504 Actually Is
HB 4504 is a non-substantive revision bill. That is a specific legislative animal in Texas: it recodifies existing law without changing its substantive meaning. Under Tex. Gov’t Code §323.007(b), the legislative intent attaches a strong presumption that prior case law and interpretive guidance carry over to the recodified provisions.
That presumption has practical consequences. Twenty years of Texas court of appeals decisions interpreting old §55.01(c) — including the Texas Supreme Court’s 2017 State v. T.S.N. holding on the Criminal Episode analysis — remain controlling under art. 55A.151. The citations change; the holdings don’t.
A handful of substantive cleanups that had been queued up for years got swept into HB 4504 alongside the recodification. We cover those in Section 8.
3. The Section Map: Old Chapter 55 to New Chapter 55A
For practitioners working on cases that straddle the effective date, the translation table is the most-asked question. The Texas Legislative Council’s revisor’s note attached to the 2025 session laws contains the definitive mapping; here is the working subset that covers 90% of filings:
| Old Citation (Chapter 55) | New Citation (Chapter 55A) | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| §55.01(a)(1)(A) | art. 55A.002 | Acquittal expunction |
| §55.01(a)(1)(B) | art. 55A.003 | Actual-innocence pardon |
| §55.01(a)(2)(A)(ii) | art. 55A.051 | Class C deferred completion |
| §55.01(a)(2)(A)(i) | art. 55A.052 | Unfiled arrest |
| §55.01(a)(2)(B) | art. 55A.053 | Dismissed-charge expunction |
| §55.01(c) | art. 55A.151 | Criminal Episode Rule |
| §55.02 §2 | arts. 55A.251–55A.256 | Petition contents & service |
| §55.02 §2(b) | art. 55A.254(a) | 30-day hearing rule |
| §55.02 §3 | art. 55A.201 | Order content & effect |
| §55.03 | art. 55A.252 | Effect — petitioner may deny |
| §55.04 | art. 55A.351 | Unauthorized release & criminal penalty |
| §55.05 | art. 55A.301 | Destruction of records by agencies |
| §55.06 | art. 55A.302 | Notice to private vendors |
A petition filed in district court in 2026 should cite the Chapter 55A articles. Several DAs we work with in DFW have quietly accepted petitions citing the old Chapter 55 numbers during the transition; that grace period is closing. By the end of 2026 we expect any petition still citing §55.01 to draw an objection on form even if the underlying eligibility is intact.
4. Subchapter A: General Provisions & the Criminal Episode Rule
Subchapter A consolidates the definitions and global rules. The marquee article is 55A.151 — the Criminal Episode Rule.
Art. 55A.151 — The Criminal Episode Rule
The old §55.01(c) made expunction unavailable to a person who, at the time of the offense subject to expunction, was subject to prosecution for another offense arising out of the same criminal episode or was convicted of another such offense. The substance survives in art. 55A.151, but the language is cleaner. The new article ties the “same criminal episode” phrase explicitly to Penal Code §3.01’s definition and removes the awkward double-negative phrasing that had generated litigation.
The Texas Supreme Court’s 2017 holding in State v. T.S.N., which permitted expunction of one arrest’s acquittal even though a separately-booked arrest at the same time produced a conviction, remains good law under the new article. The carry-over is explicit in the revisor’s note. Practitioners who have built arguments around T.S.N. can continue to do so; they just cite art. 55A.151 instead of §55.01(c).
The deleted Five-Year Felony Bar
Old §55.01(a)(2)(B) (last sentence) authorized denial when the petitioner had been convicted of a felony in the five years preceding the date of the underlying arrest. That provision did not survive HB 4504. The legislative intent here was substantive, not just clerical: the Five-Year Felony Bar had become an unprincipled obstacle, denying expunction on cases that had no logical connection to an old felony. Its deletion is one of the genuine wins of the recodification.
5. Subchapter B: The Four Eligibility Pathways
Subchapter B is the heart of the chapter. The four pathways each get their own article, which makes for cleaner petition drafting.
Art. 55A.002 — Acquittal expunction
A not-guilty verdict at trial creates a right to expunction. The court “shall” enter the order within 30 days of acquittal, on its own motion if necessary. This is where art. 55A.201 dovetails to make the on-acquittal entry procedural rather than requiring a separate civil petition.
Art. 55A.003 — Actual-innocence pardon
A pardon based on actual innocence (distinct from a regular gubernatorial pardon) creates the same right. Texas has issued only a handful of these in any given year, but when one is granted the procedural path is parallel to acquittal.
Art. 55A.051 — Class C deferred adjudication completion
Successful completion and discharge of a Class C misdemeanor deferred adjudication makes the case expunction-eligible immediately. This is the only deferred adjudication that supports expunction; A, B, and felony deferreds route to nondisclosure.
Art. 55A.052 — Arrest with no charge filed
Default waits run from the arrest date: 180 days (Class C), 1 year (Class A/B misdemeanor), 3 years (felony). The prosecutor’s certification of no investigative need collapses the wait to zero. Immediate-filing grounds include mistaken identity, absence of probable cause, and completed authorized pretrial intervention.
Art. 55A.053 — Dismissed indictment or information
When charges were filed and later dismissed, art. 55A.053 generally requires waiting for the statute of limitations on the underlying offense to expire. This is where the Chapter 12 limitations math — reshaped by SB 2798 and SB 16 in the 89th Legislature — controls the wait.
6. Subchapter C: Procedure, Service & Hearing
Subchapter C is the procedural backbone. Most of these articles look familiar — they are descended from the old §55.02 — but several have been substantively tightened.
Petition contents
The petition must allege the petitioner’s identity, the date of the arrest, the offense, the law-enforcement agency that conducted the arrest, the case number, and the court of original jurisdiction. The new chapter explicitly requires a list of every entity reasonably believed to be in possession of records subject to expunction — private consumer-reporting agencies included — under art. 55A.155.
Service on agencies
Art. 55A.156 requires notice to every agency named in the petition. The agencies have 30 days to file any objection. This is the article that, in combination with SB 1667 (eff. September 1, 2025), now permits free electronic service to state agencies and creates the standardized $25 minimum for non-electronic agency service.
The 30-day hearing floor
Art. 55A.254(a) keeps the long-standing rule that the court cannot set a hearing earlier than the 30th day after the petition is filed. This is the floor that drives the minimum 60-to-90-day timeline on uncontested matters in urban counties.
7. Subchapter D: The Order, Distribution & Agency Duties
Subchapter D is where the work actually pays off, and it contains some of the most underappreciated improvements in the recodification.
Art. 55A.201 — Content and effect of the order
The order’s mandatory content list is now explicit and standardized: the petitioner’s identifiers, the arrest information, the agencies named, and the destruction directive. The article also restates the federal NCIC forwarding obligation that DPS has long carried.
Art. 55A.252 — The right to deny
The petitioner is “released from all disabilities resulting from the arrest” and may deny the occurrence of the arrest on most forms. The narrow carve-out for sworn testimony in a criminal proceeding survives from the old §55.03.
Arts. 55A.301–55A.302 — Agency destruction duties
Every agency in possession of records subject to the order must destroy or return them. The chapter now expressly reaches private consumer-reporting agencies, codifying a duty that had previously been carried by Texas Business & Commerce Code §20.05 alone.
Art. 55A.351 — Penalty for unauthorized release
The unauthorized release of expunged records remains a Class B misdemeanor. This is the same enforcement mechanism as under old §55.04, but the cross-references have been updated.
Wondering whether a 2018 or 2022 case clears under Chapter 55A?
Pre-2025 dispositions are still eligible — the substantive analysis didn’t change, only the citations did. We’ll run the math against the actual disposition and tell you whether the new statute opens, closes, or unchanges your path.
8. The Real Substantive Changes — and What Did Not Change
Despite the “non-substantive” label, a handful of substantive changes rode along with HB 4504.
What did change
- Five-Year Felony Bar deleted. Unrelated old felonies no longer block expunction. The Criminal Episode Rule is now the only same-incident-related bar.
- Criminal Episode Rule clarified. Art. 55A.151’s plain reference to Penal Code §3.01 closes much of the previous ambiguity over what counts as “same criminal episode.”
- Private vendors codified. The duty of private consumer-reporting agencies to act on the order is now explicit in the chapter itself, not just in Business & Commerce Code §20.05.
- On-acquittal procedure clarified. Art. 55A.201 permits the trial court to enter expunction within 30 days of acquittal without requiring a separate civil petition. This is procedural cleanup that has been working its way into Texas practice for several years and is now codified.
- Pretrial intervention path codified. Completion of an authorized pretrial-intervention program under Gov’t Code §76.011 is now an explicit immediate-filing ground under art. 55A.052.
What did not change
- The four eligibility pathways are conceptually identical.
- Default waiting periods for unfiled arrests (180 days / 1 year / 3 years) are unchanged.
- Statute-of-limitations math for dismissed charges is still governed by Chapter 12 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (with the 89th Legislature’s SB 2798 and SB 16 changes integrated).
- Nondisclosure (Government Code Chapter 411) is unchanged by HB 4504 and remains the fallback for cases that don’t qualify for expunction.
- Expunction of final felony convictions remains unavailable.
What did NOT pass
- SB 219 (89th Reg. Sess.) would have created an automatic-on-dismissal expunction for certain misdemeanors. It died in committee.
- HB 2708 (89th Reg. Sess.) would have relaxed the first-offender threshold for several misdemeanor nondisclosures. It died in committee.
- Reference to either of those proposals as current law is wrong — we still see this on outdated DIY sites.
9. How Chapter 55A Interacts with SB 1667 and SB 537
Two 89th Legislature bills took effect on September 1, 2025 and together changed the economics of Chapter 55A filings.
SB 1667 — free electronic service
SB 1667 amended the procedural provisions to mandate free electronic service of expunction orders on state agencies and to set a standardized minimum fee of $25 per agency where electronic service is unavailable. The bill also authorizes clerks to retain expunction orders indefinitely, which materially helps clients who later need to re-verify status years after the original order. The new service mechanisms fit cleanly into the Subchapter D distribution framework.
SB 537 — specialty-court fee waivers
SB 537 waives Chapter 55A filing fees entirely for graduates of three categories of programs: Veterans Treatment Court (Gov’t Code Ch. 124), Mental Health Court (Ch. 125), and authorized pretrial-intervention programs under Gov’t Code §76.011. If your case ran through any of these, the typical $250–$450 filing fee disappears. We confirm specialty-court completion at intake because it changes the cost math.
10. Filing in 2026: A Five-Step Practical Map
- Pull the disposition. The clerk’s record controls. The cause number, the disposition language, and the offense classification drive everything that follows. A typo here voids the petition.
- Identify the right pathway and article. Acquittals to art. 55A.002, Class C deferreds to art. 55A.051, unfiled arrests to art. 55A.052, dismissed charges to art. 55A.053. Citing the wrong article is a denial even on facts that plainly support expunction.
- Run the Criminal Episode analysis under art. 55A.151. If the underlying arrest produced any co-charge that resulted in conviction or remains prosecutable, the petition fails.
- Draft the full agency list. The arresting agency, sheriff, jail, district clerk, county clerk, prosecutor’s office, DPS — plus every reasonably-identifiable private consumer-reporting agency. The order only reaches agencies you named.
- File in the right court. District court in the county of arrest. SB 1667’s electronic service handles state agencies for free; the rest are paid service. Track delivery at 30, 60, and 90 days after the signing date.
The pre-2025 petition we had drafted was technically fine, but the DA’s office had stopped accepting Chapter 55 citations by the time we got to filing. Updating to the Chapter 55A articles took an afternoon. Signed in under ninety days. — Client, Dallas County, 2026
11. Frequently Asked Questions
HB 4504 recodified the entire Texas expunction statute as Chapter 55A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, effective January 1, 2025. It is primarily a non-substantive revision — the four eligibility pathways and the waiting periods carry over — but a handful of substantive cleanups rode along, including deletion of the old Five-Year Felony Bar and clarification of the Criminal Episode Rule.
No. Petitions filed under Chapter 55 before January 1, 2025 remain valid. New petitions filed on or after that date must cite Chapter 55A. The substantive eligibility analysis for an old case is unchanged; only the citations are different.
It was deleted. Unrelated old felony convictions no longer block a Chapter 55A expunction. Only the Criminal Episode Rule under art. 55A.151 still blocks expunction when a co-charge from the same arrest resulted in conviction.
Only narrowly. Art. 55A.201 clarifies that an acquitting court may enter the expunction order within 30 days of acquittal without a separate civil petition. There is no general automatic expunction system in Texas. SB 219 and HB 2708 from the 89th Legislature would have created automatic expunctions for some misdemeanors but did not pass.
SB 1667 (effective September 1, 2025) plugs into Chapter 55A’s Subchapter D distribution framework. It mandates free electronic service of expunction orders on state agencies, sets a $25 minimum for non-electronic service, and authorizes clerks to retain orders indefinitely. The result is a meaningfully cheaper distribution phase.
Yes. Under Tex. Gov’t Code §323.007(b), non-substantive revisions carry a strong presumption that prior interpretive case law applies to the recodified provisions. The Texas Supreme Court’s 2017 State v. T.S.N. holding on the Criminal Episode analysis continues to control under art. 55A.151.
Almost certainly yes — assuming the misdemeanor wasn’t part of the same arrest as anything you were convicted of. The Five-Year Felony Bar that would have closed this door under old Chapter 55 is gone. Run the Criminal Episode analysis under art. 55A.151 to confirm.
Bottom Line
HB 4504 was the long-overdue rationalization of a statute that had grown by accretion for forty years. Chapter 55A reads cleaner, organizes better, and finally pulls procedure into a single place. The four eligibility pathways and the waiting periods stayed put; the citations all moved. The substantive wins — deletion of the Five-Year Felony Bar, codification of the pretrial-intervention path, explicit private-vendor coverage — are small but real. Combined with the 89th Legislature’s SB 1667 and SB 537, the cost and friction of filing a Texas expunction is materially lower in 2026 than it was even two years ago.
For anyone with a pre-2025 disposition still on their record, the chapter change does not close any door. The substantive analysis follows the disposition, not the filing year. Whether the right citation today is art. 55A.052 or art. 55A.053 depends on how the case ended; either way, the work of clearing the record looks the same.
This article is general information about Texas record-clearing law, not legal advice. Statutes and 2025 session changes referenced above reflect Texas law as of May 17, 2026.
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