Background Checks in Texas.

Who this guide is for

This is a practical compliance guide for Texas employers running pre-employment background checks. It covers what state and city law allow, the unique Texas reporting cap under Business and Commerce Code § 20.05, what an actual check returns, where Texas has unusual limitations or industry-specific requirements, and which package fits common industries (healthcare, education and childcare, oil and gas, technology, long-term care, hospitality, transportation, manufacturing).

When Texas employers should screen

Texas employers commonly request these checks depending on the role and industry:

• Criminal background check — county-level direct searches, Texas DPS Crime Records (state repository), and a multi-state national database
• Motor vehicle records (MVR) — required for any role involving driving company vehicles or transporting passengers, cargo, or hazardous materials
• Employment verification — confirm prior job titles, dates, and reason for separation (where lawful)
• Education verification — required for licensed professions (nursing, teaching, accounting, engineering, professional services)
• Professional license verification — Texas Medical Board (healthcare), Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, Texas State Board of Public Accountancy, etc.
• Drug and alcohol testing — permitted for cannabis (no state restriction), opioids, amphetamines, and DOT panel substances
• TEA / DFPS / HHS fingerprint checks — required for K-12 educators, licensed childcare staff, and long-term care direct-care workers
• HHS Employee Misconduct Registry — required check for long-term care, home health, and assisted-living direct-care hires
• FMCSA Clearinghouse + PSP — required for CDL drivers under federal law (handled via our DOT compliance program)
• OIG / SAM exclusion search — required for any employer billing federal healthcare programs

Texas compliance table

Topic	Rule	What employers should do
Ban-the-box / Fair Chance	No statewide rule for private employers. Austin Code §5-2 covers private employers with 15+ employees in Austin. State agencies follow a 2017 executive order.	Outside Austin: lawful to ask about criminal history at application or interview, subject to FCRA. In Austin (15+ employees): wait for conditional offer before inquiry, then conduct an individualized assessment.
Criminal lookback	Texas Business and Commerce Code § 20.05 — CRAs cannot report criminal records older than 7 years for jobs paying less than $75,000/year. FCRA otherwise (7-year limit on non-convictions; no limit on convictions for $75K+ roles).	Use a CRA that respects § 20.05 thresholds. Document the salary band when ordering reports for higher-compensation roles. Consider business-relevance even when older convictions are reportable.
Sealed / expunged records	Expunged under Code of Criminal Procedure Ch 55 — must be removed from court files. Sealed by non-disclosure order under Government Code § 411 — generally unavailable to private employers.	Do not consider expunged or non-disclosed records. If they appear on a CRA report, file an FCRA dispute. Limited exceptions for licensed regulated industries.
Cannabis (off-duty use)	No state-law employment protection. Texas has not legalized recreational cannabis. Texas Compassionate Use Program is highly restrictive (low-THC, narrow conditions).	Pre-employment cannabis testing is fully permitted. Document a clear written drug policy and apply consistently. Continue cannabis testing for DOT-regulated CDL drivers and federal contractors as required.
Salary / credit checks	No statewide salary-history ban. No statewide credit-check restriction. Federal FCRA applies. Austin restricts salary history only for city government applicants.	Limit credit checks to roles with genuine fiduciary or financial-control responsibility. Document the business reason in case of FCRA disclosure dispute.
Pending charges	Reportable under federal FCRA. State law does not restrict consideration. Austin's ordinance limits use as part of individualized assessment.	Pending charges (no conviction) should not be the sole basis for adverse action. Document business reason. In Austin, conduct individualized assessment under §5-2.
Adverse action	Federal FCRA pre-adverse + adverse action notice required. Austin adds individualized assessment + opportunity-to-respond requirements.	Send pre-adverse action notice with copy of the report and the FCRA summary of rights, wait at least 5 business days for dispute, then send the final adverse action notice. In Austin, also follow §5-2 timing and notice requirements.

Statewide rules vs. Austin local rules

Texas does not have a statewide Fair Chance Act for private employers, but Austin layers a city ordinance on top of federal FCRA. Other major Texas cities (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth, El Paso) have not enacted private-employer ban-the-box ordinances; their fair-chance policies apply only to city government hiring. Outside Austin, federal FCRA is the ceiling on what employers may consider, with the additional Texas-specific § 20.05 lookback cap.

Texas state rules (apply everywhere in Texas)

• § 20.05 lookback cap: CRAs cannot report criminal records older than 7 years for jobs paying less than $75,000/year
• Expunction and non-disclosure: Expunged records (CCP Ch 55) must be removed from CRA reports; non-disclosed records (Gov't Code § 411) are unavailable to most private employers
• Cannabis: No state-law employment protection — pre-employment testing is permitted
• Industry-specific fingerprinting: Required for K-12 educators, licensed childcare, and long-term care direct-care

Austin Fair Chance Hiring Ordinance (Austin Code §5-2)

• Coverage: Private employers with 15+ employees performing work in Austin city limits
• Restriction: No criminal history inquiry or consideration before a conditional job offer
• Individualized assessment: After conditional offer, employer must consider the nature of the offense, time elapsed, and relevance to job duties before any adverse action
• Notice requirement: Written notice of intended adverse action with opportunity to respond, in addition to FCRA pre-adverse and adverse action notices
• Enforcement: City of Austin Equal Employment / Fair Housing Office
• Penalties: Up to $500 per violation
• Exemptions: Federal employers, state agencies, and positions where state or federal law requires consideration of criminal history (e.g., licensed childcare, security)

Travis County (Austin metro) has a separate fair-chance policy applying to county vendors. DeSoto (south Dallas metro) has ban-the-box for city employees. Plano, Frisco, Round Rock, Sugar Land, and other suburbs follow state law without local overlays.

What shows up on a background check in Texas?

• County criminal records — direct searches at all 254 Texas county district and county courts. Coverage includes Harris (Houston), Dallas, Tarrant (Fort Worth), Bexar (San Antonio), Travis (Austin), Collin (Plano/Frisco), Denton, Fort Bend, El Paso, Hidalgo, and every other county.
• Texas DPS Computerized Criminal History (CCH) — name-based search of the state repository
• Federal criminal search — U.S. District Court records (Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas)
• National criminal database — multi-state aggregator covering most jurisdictions; not authoritative on its own (per FCRA, requires county-level verification)
• Sex offender registry — Texas DPS registry plus the national sex offender public registry (NSOPW)
• Motor vehicle records (MVR) — Texas DPS driver record (Type 2A 3-year, Type 3A certified 3-year, or Type AR full record)
• Employment verification — direct contact with prior employers (typically last 3-5 employers)
• Education verification — high school, college, or graduate degrees
• Professional license verification — Texas Medical Board (healthcare), Texas Board of Nursing, TDLR (trades, real estate, security), Texas State Bar, etc.
• Drug and alcohol testing — at any of 1,800+ Texas collection sites; cannabis testing permitted
• HHS Employee Misconduct Registry — required check for long-term care direct-care hires
• DOT-specific checks — for CDL drivers: FMCSA Clearinghouse pre-employment full query and annual limited queries, PSP report, MVR (handled via the parent Vertical Identity DOT compliance program)

Turnaround times in Texas

Most Texas background checks complete in 1 to 5 business days. Specifics:

• Texas DPS CCH name-based: typically same-day to 24 hours
• Major-county criminal (Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar, Travis): 1-2 business days (online court access)
• Smaller county criminal: 1-3 business days; some West Texas and Panhandle counties require clerk-assisted searches and may extend to 5-7 business days
• Federal criminal: 1-2 business days via PACER
• MVR (Texas DPS): typically same-day to 24 hours
• Employment verification: 2-5 business days depending on prior employer responsiveness
• Education verification: 1-3 business days; longer for international institutions
• TEA fingerprint check: 7-21 business days (state-administered)
• DFPS childcare background check: 7-30 business days depending on FBI fingerprint queue
• HHS Employee Misconduct Registry: typically same-day (online query)

Common-name candidates, missing identifiers (no DOB or SSN), and out-of-state prior employment can all extend turnaround. We surface specific delays inside the applicant tracking dashboard so HR teams know what's blocking each check in real time.

Texas-specific limitations

• § 20.05 reporting cap: CRAs cannot report criminal records older than 7 years for jobs paying less than $75,000/year. This affects most hourly, entry-level, and many mid-level roles. The salary threshold is statutory and not adjusted for inflation — confirm the current threshold annually.
• DOB redaction on online court records: Some Texas county courts redact partial date of birth on public online records to comply with privacy rules. This can cause false positives or misses on common names — county-level verification is required, especially for applicants named "Garcia," "Martinez," "Smith," and other high-frequency surnames.
• Expunged and non-disclosed records cannot be considered: Even if a record appears on a database due to delayed updates, employers who rely on expunged or non-disclosed records risk both FCRA dispute liability and Texas-law penalties.
• Pending cases: Reportable but should not be the sole basis for adverse action under best-practice EEOC guidance and Austin's ordinance.
• Alias / maiden name searches: Required for thorough screening of candidates who have changed names. Particularly important in Texas where married surname changes remain common.
• Tribal court records: Texas has three federally recognized tribes (Alabama-Coushatta, Kickapoo, Ysleta del Sur Pueblo). Tribal court records are separate from state court records and may not be accessible through standard CRA channels.
• Border-county MVR delays: El Paso, Cameron, Hidalgo, and Webb counties occasionally see longer MVR turnaround due to volume and bilingual record-handling requirements.
• Justice of the Peace court records: Texas JP courts handle Class C misdemeanors and traffic; their records are sometimes not covered by county-level criminal searches. For thorough screening of low-level offenses, supplemental JP searches may be needed.

Recommended screening package by employer type

Healthcare employers

Hospitals, clinics, dental practices, and senior care facilities operating in Texas should run:

• Criminal background check (county + Texas DPS CCH + national database)
• OIG / SAM exclusion search (federal — required for any employer billing Medicare/Medicaid)
• Texas Medical Board / Board of Nursing license verification
• Drug testing (cannabis testing permitted)
• Employment verification (3 prior employers minimum)
• Education verification (degree + nursing / medical school)
• Sex offender registry (national + Texas)
• HHS Employee Misconduct Registry (for long-term care direct-care roles)

Education and childcare employers

K-12 schools, charter schools, licensed childcare facilities, daycare centers, and after-school programs:

• TEA fingerprint check (required by law for certified educators and school employees)
• DFPS Background Check Unit (required for licensed childcare operations)
• Texas Central Registry of child abuse and neglect
• Texas DPS CCH name-based check
• National criminal database
• National + Texas sex offender registry
• Education verification
• Professional license / teacher certification verification

Oil and gas / energy

Permian Basin operators, Eagle Ford, Houston-area refining, and downstream chemicals:

• Criminal background check (county + state + federal)
• DOT drug and alcohol testing for safety-sensitive and CDL roles
• MVR for any role driving company vehicles
• Employment verification (5 prior employers — common in transient oilfield workforces)
• Education and certification verification (PE, pipeline operator certifications, OSHA training)
• OFAC / federal export control screening for international roles

Technology and professional services

Austin, Dallas, and Houston tech companies, accounting firms, law firms, financial services:

• Criminal background check (county + state + federal)
• Education verification (degree authentication is critical at this level)
• Employment verification (3-5 prior employers)
• Professional license verification (CPA, JD, FINRA, PE, etc.)
• Credit check (for fiduciary or financial-control roles only — document business reason)
• For Austin-based roles with 15+ employee firms: comply with §5-2 timing and individualized assessment

Long-term care and senior services

Assisted-living facilities, nursing homes, home health agencies, hospices:

• HHS Employee Misconduct Registry (required by law)
• Texas DPS CCH and national criminal database
• Texas Nurse Aide Registry (for CNAs)
• Texas Central Registry of child abuse and neglect (for facilities serving minors)
• OIG / SAM exclusion search
• Sex offender registry
• Drug testing

Hospitality and retail

Hotels, restaurants, bars (TABC-regulated), retail chains:

• Criminal background check (county of residence + state)
• National criminal database
• National sex offender registry
• Identity verification
• For TABC-licensed roles: Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission certification check
• Drug testing for safety-sensitive roles (cooks, security, drivers)

Transportation and trucking

For CDL drivers operating in Texas (interstate or intrastate), full DOT compliance is required. This is handled through our parent brand Vertical Identity:

• FMCSA Clearinghouse pre-employment full query + annual limited queries
• Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP) report — 5 years inspection + 3 years crash data
• MVR (Texas DPS — typically Type 3A certified 3-year)
• DOT drug and alcohol testing (cannabis testing retained — federal preemption)
• Previous employer drug and alcohol testing history (49 CFR 391.23)
• Driver Qualification File (DQF) management

Small business / general employers

For small businesses hiring office, retail, or service staff outside Austin:

• National + Texas criminal database
• County criminal search (residence county)
• National sex offender registry
• Identity verification
• Optional: employment verification, MVR for driving roles, drug testing for safety-sensitive roles

Pricing

Texas background check packages start at $39 for the standard pre-employment package (criminal + sex offender + identity). Add drug testing ($69 standard, $59 BAT), Texas DPS MVR, employment verification, and education verification a la carte. State-administered fingerprint checks (TEA, DFPS, HHS EMR) carry separate state agency fees. Volume pricing is available for ongoing employers — call (602) 899-3611 or schedule a demo for a quote.

Browse our full pre-employment screening packages or enterprise programs for high-volume employers (100+ checks/year, ATS integration, dedicated account manager).