Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 73.002 · Subchapter A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
PRIVILEGED MATTERS.
Text — Current through the 89th 2nd Called Legislative Session, 2025
(a) The publication by a newspaper or other periodical of a matter covered by this section is privileged and is not a ground for a libel action. This privilege does not extend to the republication of a matter if it is proved that the matter was republished with actual malice after it had ceased to be of public concern.
(b) This section applies to:
(1) a fair, true, and impartial account of:
(A) a judicial proceeding, unless the court has prohibited publication of a matter because in its judgment the interests of justice demand that the matter not be published;
(B) an official proceeding, other than a judicial proceeding, to administer the law;
(C) an executive or legislative proceeding (including a proceeding of a legislative committee), a proceeding in or before a managing board of an educational or eleemosynary institution supported from the public revenue, of the governing body of a city or town, of a county commissioners court, and of a public school board or a report of or debate and statements made in any of those proceedings; or
(D) the proceedings of a public meeting dealing with a public purpose, including statements and discussion at the meeting or other matters of public concern occurring at the meeting; and
(2) reasonable and fair comment on or criticism of an official act of a public official or other matter of public concern published for general information.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 959, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1985.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Current through the 89th 2nd Called Legislative Session, 2025
- Official file
- https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CP/htm/CP.73.htm
- Text hash
- sha256 262507428e27611ed582308ec028b4fe4f83129863b526be8d5ab9c316e73cd9
- Composed by
- compose_tx.py 2026-10-05: the Legislative Council's chapter files read in document order; verify_tx.py's independent reading (lxml DOM walk) agrees character for character
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.