A change in the Statute of Limitations in Texas family violence cases was brought about by Texas House Bill 467 filed in the Texas House of Representatives during the Spring 2023 Legislative Session. Here is a link to HB 467:
https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/HB00467H.htm
Section 3 of the Bill provides:
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act does not apply to an offense if the prosecution of that offense becomes barred by limitation before the effective date of this Act. The prosecution of that offense remains barred as if this Act had not taken effect.
The ex post facto clauses of the United States Constitution and the Texas Constitution (found in U.S. Const. art. I, § 9, cl. 3 and Tex. Const. art. I, § 16, respectively) DO NOT prevent a legislature from retroactively extending the statute of limitations for an offense, provided that the extension occurs before the original statute of limitations has expired.
In Ex parte Vallejo, No. 03-18-00297-CR, 2018 Tex. App. LEXIS 9253, at *1 (Tex. App.—Austin Nov. 14, 2018, pet. ref'd), it was clarified that while a statute of limitations is in effect when a criminal offense is committed, no defense is available to a defendant at the time of the criminal offense. Such a defense accrues only at some later point (if at all); it is not available at the time the criminal act was committed. Therefore, changing the statute of limitations and removing the limitation period did not deprive the appellant of a defense that was available at the time he allegedly committed the charged offenses.
Additionally, in Robinson v. Crown Cork & Seal Co., 335 S.W.3d 126 (Tex. 2010), it was noted that the ex post facto clause prohibits retroactive application of penal legislation. However, this prohibition is specifically directed at laws that retroactively increase the punishment for criminal acts or alter the legal rules of evidence to the detriment of the defendant This principle was further supported in Johnson v. State, 930 S.W.2d 589 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996), which stated that an ex post facto law makes more burdensome the punishment for a crime after its commission.