State notification register
Texas data breach notification law: without unreasonable delay.
Texas's breach-notification obligations are set by Tex. Bus. & Com. Code 521.053. This page summarises the deadline to notify affected residents, the attorney general notification threshold, whether a private right of action exists, and the penalties for late or missing notification. Every provision is cited to its source statute and was verified in June 2026.
Individual deadline
60 days
From discovery / determination
AG notification
250
250 or more Texas residents
Private action
Limited
Indirect recovery via the Deceptive Trade Practices Act (up to treble economic damages for knowing violations)
Statute
TX
Tex. Bus. & Com. Code 521.053
Section TX.1
What the statute requires
Under Tex. Bus. & Com. Code 521.053, a business that owns or licenses computerized personal information of Texas residents must notify affected individuals without unreasonable delay, no later than the 60th day after determining a breach occurred.
Attorney general or state-agency notification is 250 or more texas residents. Where required, the timeline is: no later than the 30th day after determining a breach occurred.
Section TX.2
What triggers notification
Like most US state statutes, notification is triggered by the unauthorized acquisition of unencrypted, unredacted computerized personal information that compromises its security, confidentiality, or integrity. Two concepts recur across the states and apply here.
Encryption safe harbor
Personal information that was encrypted, and where the encryption key was not also acquired, generally does not trigger notification. A stolen device with full-disk encryption is typically a non-event; an unencrypted record, or an encrypted record where the key was exposed alongside it, is a reportable breach.
Who must be notified
- [1] Affected Texas residents: 60 days
- [2] Attorney general / state agency: 250 or more texas residents
- [3] Consumer reporting agencies where the breach is large-scale
Section TX.3
Penalties and enforcement
$2,000-$50,000 per violation; additional up to $100 per individual per day, capped at $250,000 per breach.
Private right of action: Limited. Indirect recovery via the Deceptive Trade Practices Act (up to treble economic damages for knowing violations).
Primary source:Texas statute Tex. Bus. & Com. Code 521.053; verified June 2026 against state statutory summaries and the underlying statute text.
Section TX.4
How this compares to the strictest states
The strictest US deadlines are 30 days (California, Florida, Washington, Colorado, Maine, New York, New Jersey). The majority of states use a qualitative "without unreasonable delay" standard with no fixed day cap. Here is where Texas sits.
Texas imposes a fixed 60-day deadline. The strictest states cut this to 30 days, so Texas sits 30 days behind the tightest regimes.
Cross-references
Index / All 50 states + DC
→The full register: deadline and AG threshold for every state.
Schedule 09 / Notification laws
→Global frameworks and the cost of notification.
01 / Breach cost calculator
→Estimate your Texas breach exposure, including notification cost.
Regulation / GDPR
→The 72-hour clock and 4%-of-revenue fine framework.
Cost / Notification
→Why notification is roughly 6% of total breach cost.
Schedule F / Reference Q&A
Frequently Asked Questions
Primary source:Texas data breach notification statute (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code 521.053). Provisions verified June 2026 against state statutory summaries (Recording Law US data-privacy series, 2026 edition), the IAPP US State Data Breach Notification Chart, Foley & Lardner's chart, and the underlying statute text.