Federal courts expand to two underserved Texas and California cities
H.R. 625 — LACA of 2026 · Filed by Michael McCaul (R-TX) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Jan 22, 2025 · Reported out
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What it does
This bill adds two cities—College Station, Texas and El Centro, California—to the list of places where federal district courts may hold sessions. It amends the statute governing where courts in those states can physically meet, allowing judges to conduct proceedings in these additional locations without requiring litigants to travel to the current designated court seats.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole function is to expand the geographic reach of federal district courts by designating two additional cities as authorized venues for court sessions. This is a routine administrative/jurisdictional amendment with no hidden mechanisms or narrow beneficiaries.
What the text implies
- May reduce caseload pressure on existing court facilities in Houston and San Diego by distributing proceedings across additional venues.
- Could improve access for litigants in rural or underserved areas (College Station is home to Texas A&M; El Centro serves the Imperial Valley), potentially increasing federal court utilization in those regions.
- Requires no new appropriations or court construction—operates within existing judicial infrastructure.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Expanding the geographic footprint of federal courts reduces travel costs and barriers for citizens, businesses, and litigants in College Station and El Centro seeking access to federal judicial proceedings. This is a straightforward access-to-justice measure with no offsetting public cost.
Named in the bill
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, College Station, Texas, El Centro, California, 28 U.S.C. § 124(b)(2), 28 U.S.C. § 84(d)
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Jan 22, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 22, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
- Jul 15, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Jul 15, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 23 - 0”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. Those filings disclosed $110,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 31 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Michael McCaul, the sponsor, reported $80,800 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Sandy Hook Promise Action Fund — $110,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jan 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (594 characters) on Jul 25, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jan 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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