Texas bill would let cities and counties invest up to $10M each in Bitcoin
Texas wants its cities and counties to have the option of holding Bitcoin. A newly pre-filed bill would let them put up to $10 million each into crypto.House Bill 815 would not force any local government to buy anything. It would simply let them, which in public finance is already a big shift.Representative Ron Reynolds, a Democrat from Missouri City, pre-filed the bill on November 10, 2026. It is the first bill filed for the 90th Texas Legislature, which is set to convene on January 12, 2027.The proposal targets the Public Funds Investment Act. That law governs where Texas public entities can park taxpayer money, and right now crypto isn't on it.HB 815 would add it. Under the bill, municipalities and counties could invest up to $10 million of their funds in Bitcoin or other crypto assets.The timeline is not immediate. If lawmakers pass it, the new authority would take effect on September 1, 2027.The bill also draws a clear line on who gets to play. School districts are excluded. Cities and counties that choose to use the new authority would need to revise their investment policies before moving any money.For now, HB 815 has not been assigned to a committee.HB 815 doesn't start from scratch. It pulls its definitions from Senate Bill 21, the 2025 law that created the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve in June 2025.But it borrows selectively. The new bill leaves out some of SB 21's guardrails, including a market cap threshold and custody regulations. It also lacks rules on how losses would be handled.The state itself already has skin in the game. The Texas Comptroller's office holds approximately $10 million in Bitcoin exposure through the BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust, as part of the state reserve.That's a useful reference point. The state chose an exchange-traded product rather than holding coins directly. HB 815, as written, doesn't tell cities which route they should take.This isn't Texas lawmakers' first attempt to bring crypto into public treasuries. In 2025, House Bill 4258 aimed to set broader provisions covering state funds. It did not pass.HB 815 is the scaled-back sequel. Instead of a sweeping overhaul, it focuses only on cities and counties and caps exposure at a fixed dollar figure.The most immediate stakeholders are city and county finance officers. If HB 815 passes, they would gain a new tool, along with a new set of headaches.Without custody or loss-handling rules in the bill, each local government would largely be designing its own safeguards. That patchwork creates uneven risk across the state, and taxpayers in different counties could end up with very different levels of protection.There are several milestones to watch. The first is committee assignment once the session opens in January 2027. The second is whether amendments add the custody and market cap provisions that SB 21 included but HB 815 left out.The third is the effective date itself. Even in a best-case scenario for supporters, September 1, 2027 is the earliest any Texas city or county could legally start buying.