Three state laws took effect Tuesday, Sept. 1, carrying direct consequences for Rockwall and Heath residents on device repairs, manufactured housing and volunteer firefighter pay.
Right to repair your devices
House Bill 2963 requires manufacturers of digital devices to make parts, tools and repair information available to consumers and independent repair shops, according to the bill text. The law covers any product that depends wholly or partly on digital electronics to function.
Not everything qualifies. Vehicles, major household appliances, medical devices and video-game consoles are excluded, WFAA reported.
For Rockwall-area residents, the change means a cracked phone screen or a failing tablet battery no longer has to go back to the manufacturer. Local repair shops can now demand access to the same parts and manuals.
Manufactured homes must be allowed
Senate Bill 785 requires every Texas city with zoning rules to permit new HUD-code manufactured homes by right in at least one residential zoning district, according to the bill text. Cities can no longer require a specific use permit for a manufactured home built to federal standards if they do not require one for other homes in the same zone. The bill passed the Texas Senate 21-9 and the House 96-41 during the 2025 session.
Both Rockwall and Heath spent the summer preparing.
Rockwall's Planning and Zoning Commission voted 6-0 on July 14 to recommend adding manufactured homes as a permitted use in the Single-Family Estate 4.0 (SFE-4.0) District, according to P&Z meeting minutes. Planning Director Ryan Miller told commissioners staff chose that district "because it is generally located in more rural areas of the city with larger lots, reducing the potential for inconsistencies with the character of established neighborhoods."
The SFE-4.0 district covers rural estate lots of at least four acres. Rockwall's proposed standards require new HUD-code units only, a minimum of 1,800 square feet of air-conditioned space and a permanent concrete foundation.
A specific use permit could still be required within 500 feet of an established subdivision, according to Rockwall City Council minutes from July 20. The council pulled the item into executive session at that meeting. No final public vote has appeared in available records.
In Heath, Director of Planning and Development Zack King told the Planning and Zoning Commission on Aug. 13 that the city did not permit manufactured homes by right in any district. The commission voted 5-2 to recommend allowing them in the MF-8 High Density Multi-Family Residential District, an undeveloped parcel at the far northern edge of the city, according to P&Z meeting minutes.
Commissioners Gordon, Rask, Ruszkiewicz, Thompson and Tunnell voted for the change. Commissioners Bishop and Shaw voted against it.
Chuck Dale, a 50-year Heath resident who lives on Smirl Drive, spoke at the Aug. 13 hearing and called the proposal reasonable given the state mandate.
The Heath City Council was scheduled to hold a public hearing and vote on the amendment Aug. 25, according to a city public notice. The outcome of that vote has not been published.
Volunteer firefighters can now be paid
House Bill 5424 allows volunteer fire departments to compensate their members, with a cap. A volunteer firefighter's annual pay, reimbursement and benefits cannot exceed 20 percent of the highest total compensation paid to a full-time firefighter by a local government in the same county, according to the bill analysis.
The bill analysis notes that 82 percent of Texas fire departments are fully or mostly volunteer. No Rockwall County-specific data on volunteer fire department staffing or compensation levels was available in public records as of Thursday, Sept. 3.
Residents who want to track how Rockwall and Heath finalize their manufactured-homes ordinances can check each city's posted agendas for upcoming council meetings.
