What HB 3846 and SB 2144 Do
These bills would prohibit Texas reserve peace officers from working traffic control, construction zone safety, and private escort jobs — work they have legally performed for decades under a 1990s Texas Attorney General opinion. Under these bills, a licensed private security guard with a 40-hour certification course could perform the same job. A fully trained reserve peace officer — who holds identical certification to a full-time officer — could not.
Who Benefits
The private security industry stands to gain an estimated $120 million to $250 million per year in new Texas revenue if reserve officers are excluded from this market. Many of the firms positioned to absorb that revenue are foreign-owned — Allied Universal is partly owned by a Canadian pension fund, G4S is UK-headquartered, and Securitas is a Swedish multinational. Texas infrastructure security dollars would leave the state and the country.
Who Loses
- Roughly 2,500 full-time and 2,500+ part-time Texas reserve peace officers lose a legitimate income stream
- Texas bridge and road contractors lose access to qualified, arrest-authority-bearing traffic control officers
- TxDOT faces higher procurement costs for the same safety function — it already spent $39 million on off-duty officers in Q1 2026 alone
- Road construction workers face greater exposure in construction zones with less-qualified traffic control
- Rural counties lose emergency surge capacity they cannot replace
- Texas motorists face reduced law enforcement presence in active work zones
The Sheriffs' Association of Texas Supports This Bill
SAT President Brian Hawthorne of Chambers County testified FOR HB 3846 at the April 23, 2025 committee hearing. Chambers County is a suburban Gulf Coast county adjacent to Harris County. The SAT's institutional position does not reflect the operational reality of the rural Texas counties most harmed by this legislation.