Texas trial courts start reporting whether they ruled on time.
Senate Bill 293 put deadlines on Texas trial courts for summary judgment, a completely rewritten Rule 166a carried them into practice on March 1, and the first quarterly compliance reports are due to the Office of Court Administration on September 20. Three consequences for practicing attorneys.
By Helena Harper, Editorial Director
Since March 1, a motion for summary judgment filed in a Texas trial court has started a clock that runs against the court as well as the parties. This week brings the first accounting of it. By September 20, clerks must report to the Office of Court Administration how many such motions were set and decided within the times the law prescribes, and how many were not.
The clock now runs forward from the filing date
Before March 1, the deadlines in Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 166a ran backward from the hearing date. A motion and any supporting affidavits had to be filed and served at least 21 days before the time specified for hearing, and except on leave of court the adverse party could respond no later than seven days before the day of hearing. The prior rule set no deadline running against the court itself: no earliest date for a setting, no outer limit for making one, and no deadline for ruling.
The rewritten rule starts the schedule when the motion is filed. Except on leave of court or agreement of the parties, the nonmovant must file a response within 21 days after the motion is filed, and the movant must file any reply within seven days after the response. A reply may not raise new or independent summary judgment grounds. Any withdrawal of the motion must itself be filed, and must identify the date the motion was filed.
The court now has dates of its own
Under Rule 166a(g), a hearing or submission date must not be set within 35 days after the motion's filing. Unless the motion is withdrawn, the court must set the motion for a hearing or for submission within 60 days after filing, or within 90 days if the court's docket so requires, on a showing of good cause, or if the movant agrees. The court may reset a date within those same limits.
The clerk's role changed with it. Upon filing, the clerk must immediately call the motion to the court's attention and must notify the parties of the date. Before that date, each side must submit a proposed order, and no oral testimony will be received at the hearing. The court must record in the docket the date the motion was heard or submitted, then sign a written ruling, file it with the clerk and provide it to the parties within 90 days after that date.
Where the deadlines came from
The Legislature set them first. Senate Bill 293, cited by the Supreme Court of Texas as the Act of June 2, 2025, added Section 23.303 to the Government Code under the heading "Procedures Related to Motions for Summary Judgment; Annual Report." It took effect September 1, 2025 and reaches the business court, a district court and a statutory county court. Practitioner analyses report that a second act cited alongside it in the Court's orders, House Bill 16, revised those judicial action timelines on December 4, 2025, before the new rule took effect.
The Court then wrote the procedure. On December 30, 2025, in Misc. Docket No. 25-9106, it gave preliminary approval and invited comment through February 28, 2026, noting that Rule 166a "has been completely rewritten." Final approval followed on February 27, 2026, in Misc. Docket No. 26-9012, signed by all nine members of the Court. The amendments apply only to a motion filed on or after March 1.
Compliance is counted, then published
Section 23.303 does not stop at setting times. It requires the clerk of the court to report the court's compliance to the Office of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial System not less than once per quarter, and requires the agency to report annually on compliance during the preceding state fiscal year, submit that report by December 31 to state leadership, and make it publicly available.
A stakeholder letter from the agency's Data and Research Division, in the version posted on its site marked updated March 2026, sets out the mechanics. Reporting began March 1, 2026, as prescribed under Rule 166a, and reports are submitted on the 20th of the month following the end of a quarter. The first one, covering fiscal year 2026 Quarter 3 from March through May, is due by September 20, together with Quarter 4 covering June through August.
What gets reported is narrow. The agency's reporting page describes two counts per quarter: motions for which both timing requirements were met, meaning a timely setting and a judgment filed within 90 days of it, and motions for which one or both were not.
What the rewrite did not change
The Court's own Comment to the 2026 change says Rule 166a was rewritten to implement Section 23.303 and to modernize the rule, and that apart from the deadline changes it "is not intended to substantively change the law." The standards bear that out. A traditional motion still turns on the absence of a genuine issue of material fact and entitlement to judgment as a matter of law, and a no-evidence motion must still be granted unless the respondent produces evidence raising a genuine issue of material fact.
Two evidentiary provisions sit alongside them. Defects in the form of an affidavit or declaration are not grounds for reversal unless an opposing party specifically objected and the submitting party had opportunity, but refused, to amend. And a new paragraph lets the court consider late-filed evidence if it indicates that consideration in the record.
Twenty-one days, then seven
The response is due 21 days after the motion is filed and the reply 7 days after the response, except on leave of court or agreement of the parties. Neither date waits for a hearing setting.
Thirty-five, sixty, ninety
No hearing or submission date may be set within 35 days of filing. The court must set one within 60 days, or 90 days if its docket requires, on a showing of good cause, or if the movant agrees.
The title carries weight
The motion must use one of three prescribed titles, and a request for an oral hearing must appear in the title of the motion or, for the nonmovant, in the title of the response.
Counted, then published
Clerks report two figures each quarter: motions that met both timing requirements and motions that missed one or both. The agency's compliance report is due by December 31 each year.
Calendar from the filing date, not from a setting. A traditional motion may be filed at any time after the nonmovant has appeared or answered unless a court order sets a filing deadline, so filing early starts the opponent's 21 days immediately. Relief from that date now comes from leave of court, agreement of the parties, or the affidavit route in Rule 166a(d)(3), under which the court may extend the response time, deny the motion without prejudice to permit additional discovery, or issue another appropriate order.
Treat the title of the document as procedural text. Use one of the three prescribed titles, and put any request for an oral hearing in the title of the motion or, for the nonmovant, in the title of the response. A mistitled motion will not be denied on that ground, but a hearing request placed in the body is not where the rule directs the court to look.
Preserve the court's own dates. The docket entry recording when the motion was heard or submitted is what starts the 90-day ruling period, and it is the same data the clerk reports each quarter. From the annual report due by December 31, that record becomes public, court by court.
The rule moved the summary judgment calendar off the hearing date and onto the file stamp.
What is new this week is that somebody is counting.
Archivar
The Archivar Editorial Desk
Fact-checked against the authorities listed below. This article is for general informational purposes and is not legal advice.
Sources: Supreme Court of Texas, Misc. Docket No. 26-9012, Final Approval of Amendments to Rule 166a of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure (February 27, 2026), including the full text of amended Rule 166a and the Notes and Comments; Supreme Court of Texas, Misc. Docket No. 25-9106, Preliminary Approval of Amendments to Rule 166a (December 30, 2025); Texas Government Code section 23.303, as added by Senate Bill 293, 89th Legislature, Regular Session, enrolled text, Texas Legislature Online; House Bill 16, 89th Legislature, Second Called Session, as cited in both Supreme Court orders; Texas Office of Court Administration, Data and Research Division, letter to stakeholders on motion for summary judgment reporting, posted version marked updated March 2026; Texas Office of Court Administration, motion for summary judgment reporting page; Norton Rose Fulbright, Katten (National Law Review, March 4, 2026), Reed Smith and Hunton Andrews Kurth, for corroboration of the pre-2026 rule text and of the reported effect of House Bill 16.
