Who Takes Your Land for a Bullet Train? Two Texas Bills Filed Today Say Opposite Things.

A private company wants to build a train.

To do it, the law lets that company take a farmer's land.

Two bills filed today in Austin pull in opposite directions on that, and on who pays.

Plain English summary

On November 9, 2026, two high-speed rail bills were filed for the 2027 session.

HB 728 says a private company cannot use eminent domain to build or run high-speed rail in Texas. It also shuts the second legal door a private rail company has used to claim that power.

HB 270 goes the other way. It orders the Texas Department of Transportation to sign a deal with a private company to build high-speed rail from Dallas to Waco to Austin to San Antonio along I-35. And it repeals the 2017 law that bans state money for privately run high-speed rail.

One bill protects the land. The other spends the money.

Why it matters

In 2022 the Texas Supreme Court ruled that Texas Central, the company behind the Dallas to Houston bullet train, can use eminent domain. That means it can force a sale of private land for its route.

That ruling did not stay in Waller County and Grimes County. It set the rule for every rural landowner in Texas. If a private rail company can take land for a line between two big cities, the next line can run through anybody's pasture. Including ours in East Texas.

The fight over who can take your land is the fight over whether you own it.

The receipt

FACT: HB 728 was filed November 9, 2026. Caption: "Relating to limitations on the applicability of certain statutes to high-speed rail." Author listed: Harrison. Bill history

FACT: HB 728 amends Transportation Code Section 112.002 to add: "A private entity may not exercise the power of eminent domain for the purpose of developing or operating high-speed rail." Bill text, PDF

FACT: HB 728 also adds Section 131.0115, saying Subchapter B of Chapter 131 does not apply to high-speed rail. Subchapter B covers interurban electric railway companies, including their eminent domain power in Section 131.012. The bill takes effect September 1, 2027.

FACT: HB 270 was filed November 9, 2026, by Bucy. It adds Transportation Code Section 91.131: "The department shall enter into a comprehensive development agreement with a private entity to construct, maintain, and operate high-speed rail connecting Dallas to Waco to Austin to San Antonio along the Interstate Highway 35 corridor." It repeals Section 199.003. Bill text

FACT: Section 199.003, passed in 2017 as SB 977, says the Legislature "may not appropriate money to pay for a cost of planning, facility construction or maintenance, or security for, promotion of, or operation of, high-speed rail operated by a private entity." SB 977 enrolled

FACT: In Miles v. Texas Central Railroad and Infrastructure (No. 20-0393, June 24, 2022), the Texas Supreme Court ruled in Texas Central's favor on its eminent domain power. Opinion

DOCUMENTED INFERENCE: Legal summaries of that ruling say the majority found Texas Central qualifies as an interurban electric railway company, which carries eminent domain power. That is the door HB 728's second section closes. Texas A&M AgriLife Texas Ag Law

DOCUMENTED INFERENCE: In April 2025 the U.S. Department of Transportation canceled a $63.9 million planning grant for the Dallas to Houston route. Secretary Sean Duffy called underwriting it "a waste of taxpayer funds." The Texas Tribune reported the project held about 25 percent of the parcels it needs, and federal officials put the cost north of $40 billion. Texas Tribune

What Ryan says

RYAN STATEMENT: I believe your land is yours.

Not yours until a company with a business plan wants it. Yours.

Eminent domain exists for public roads and public needs. A private company selling private tickets for private profit is not the public. If a train makes sense, the company can buy the land the way everybody else does. Make an offer. Shake a hand. Take no for an answer.

That is why HB 728 is worth watching.

HB 270 is the opposite deal. It tells the state to sign a contract with a private company and tears down the wall that keeps your tax money out of a private railroad. Washington already looked at Dallas to Houston and said no more federal money. Austin should not pick up the tab on a second line.

Same state. Two bills. One protects the owner. One protects the investor.

Show me the math before anybody shows me a route map.

What this does not prove

It does not prove either bill will get a hearing, a vote, or a signature. These were filed today. Most filed bills die.

It does not prove the bill text is final. The HB 728 HTML was not posted yet. The quotes here come from the PDF as received.

It does not prove Texas Central or any I-35 project would or would not be built under either bill. It does not prove anyone in this story did anything wrong.

What it does prove

It proves the Legislature will be asked, in writing, to decide whether a private rail company can take Texas land.

It proves there is a bill to put state money into private high-speed rail and a bill to stop private rail from using eminent domain. Both filed the same day.

It proves this is not settled. The court ruled in 2022. Lawmakers can change the statute the court read.

The bottom line

Watch HB 728 and HB 270 as a pair.

One answers who can take your land. The other answers who pays.

Call it what it is. This is a property rights fight. This is the record.

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.