By CP StaffMonday, January 05, 2026Texas state Capitol in Austin, Texas. | Amy Sparwasser/iStock
More than 30 new laws went into effect in Texas on Jan. 1, covering topics ranging from artificial intelligence, gender, and immigration to app store regulation and property rights.
Following last year’s historic regular session in which Texas state lawmakers passed hundreds of new laws, several of those laws took effect in December, including a “bathroom bill” prohibiting men from entering women’s restrooms (SB 8), allowing private citizens to sue anyone who manufactures, provides or distributes abortion pills (HB 7), and making the anti-parasitic paste Ivermectin available without a prescription (HB 25)
From requiring Ten Commandments displays in public schools to establishing legal definitions for “man” and “woman,” here are four new Texas laws that took effect on Jan. 1.
