Show the Price: Texas Bill Would Make Big Commercial Sales Public

A warehouse sells. A hotel sells. A shopping center sells. In Texas, nobody has to put the price on the deed. A bill filed in Austin today says the big commercial deals should.

Plain English summary

House Bill 1108 was filed in the Texas House on November 12, 2026, by State Rep. Diego Bernal. FACT. (bill history)

It adds a new Section 12.0014 to the Texas Property Code. If you buy commercial or industrial real estate under a contract for sale, the deed you record at the county clerk's office would have to show the sales price. FACT.

If a deed gets recorded without the price, the buyer owes the state a civil penalty equal to five percent of the sales price. The attorney general, or the county or district attorney where the property sits, can sue to collect it. FACT.

It does not touch homes. It does not apply to a deed that only conveys a mineral interest. It would take effect September 1, 2027. FACT.

Why it matters

Texas is one of a small number of states that do not require sale prices to be disclosed when property changes hands. DOCUMENTED INFERENCE, based on industry reporting (Bisnow).

That matters because your appraisal district sets values off sales. When big commercial deals close in the dark, the district has to estimate what that property is worth. When the estimate runs low, the gap does not disappear. Somebody else carries it. DOCUMENTED INFERENCE.

Homeowners in Gregg, Smith, Harrison, Upshur, and Marion counties already feel every appraisal notice. If commercial values run light, the pressure lands on the people who cannot hire a team of tax consultants to fight it. DOCUMENTED INFERENCE.

The receipt

This is not the first time this bill has been filed. Here is the record.

• 2023, 88th Legislature: HB 234 by Bernal, mandatory sales price disclosure for commercial or industrial property. Filed 11/14/2022. Referred to the House Business and Industry Committee on 2/23/2023. That was the last action. FACT. (history)
• 2025, 89th Legislature: HB 622 by Bernal, same language, same five percent penalty. Filed 11/12/2024. Referred to the House Trade, Workforce and Economic Development Committee on 3/4/2025. That was the last action. FACT. (history, text)
• 2027, 90th Legislature: HB 1108, same language again, with the effective date moved to September 1, 2027. Filed today. FACT. (text)

Two sessions. Two committee referrals. No committee vote recorded in either history. FACT.

What Ryan says

Here is where I stand.

I am not for government digging through your business. I am for fairness on the tax roll.

A family in Longview opens an appraisal notice and has to fight a number they did not set. A big commercial buyer closes a deal and the price can stay in a drawer. That does not sit right with me.

I do not care whose name is on the bill. I care what it does. This one asks for one number on one piece of paper for one kind of sale. That is not a lot to ask.

And I want to know why it has sat in committee two sessions running without a vote on the record. If it is a bad idea, vote it down in the open. If it is a good idea, pass it. Either way, put names on it.

Give it a hearing. Hold a vote. Show me the record.

What this does not prove

It does not prove that any appraisal district in East Texas is undervaluing any commercial property. I have no numbers on that, and I am not going to make any up.

It does not prove that disclosure would lower anyone's homestead taxes. Values, rates, and exemptions all move together. DOCUMENTED INFERENCE.

It does not prove the bill will pass, or even get a hearing. Filed is the first step, not the last.

There are real arguments on the other side. Some property owners and industry groups have long said sale prices are private business and that disclosure does not fix appraisal problems. DOCUMENTED INFERENCE (GlobeSt, 2005). Those arguments deserve a hearing too.

What this does prove

It proves the Legislature has had this exact question in front of it in 2023 and 2025 and never put a committee vote on the record. FACT.

It proves the bill is narrow: commercial and industrial sales only, not your house, not your minerals. FACT.

It proves there is a simple, written proposal on the table today if lawmakers want the tax roll built on real prices instead of guesses. FACT.

The bottom line

The tax roll should be built on real prices, not guesses. The biggest deals in Texas are where the guessing costs the most. HB 1108 puts that question back on the table. Make them answer it on the record.

The record does not lie.

Do not threaten anyone. Do not harass anyone. Do not contact anyone in my name. Read it. Share it. Send receipts, evidence, witnesses. Put eyes on the record.