13 Bizarre Texas Laws Still on the Books Today

Careful what you assume about Texas law.

For every famous “weird law” that turns out to be a myth, there’s a real one stranger than fiction.

These are some of the bizarre Texas laws that are still on the books today.

Note: This is general information, not legal advice. Many of these laws are decades old, vary by city, and see little enforcement. Verify current rules before relying on them.

Wipers Required, Windshield Optional

Here’s a head-scratcher. Texas law demands working windshield wipers on your vehicle.

It does not, however, require a windshield.

The windshield isn’t a state inspection item.

The wipers are.

So in theory, you could cruise down the highway with no glass in front of you, as long as those wipers are able to swipe at the open air.

Selling Your Organs Is a Felony

You can sell your blood. You can sell your hair.

Sell a kidney, though, and you’ve crossed a hard line.

Texas Penal Code makes it a crime to buy or sell human organs, including your eyes, heart, liver, lungs, and skin.

Lawmakers stiffened the penalty in 2025.

What used to be a misdemeanor became a state jail felony, with up to two years behind bars and a $10,000 fine.

Donating an organ stays legal, and so does selling plasma down at the clinic.

The black-market kidney trade is what the law is after.

You Can’t Buy a Car All Weekend

Walk onto a Texas dealership lot on the wrong day, and you’ll find the doors locked.

The state’s Transportation Code bars dealers from selling cars on both Saturday and Sunday.

They have to pick one weekend day and shut down.

Most choose Sunday. Each illegal sale can cost a dealer up to $5,000.

The rule is a leftover from the old blue laws, and many dealers like it. It guarantees everybody a day off.

Private sellers are in the clear. Sell your own truck on Facebook any day you please.

Liquor Stores Go Dark on Sundays

Plan your weekend whiskey run for Saturday.

Come Sunday, every package store in Texas shuts its doors.

State law keeps liquor stores shut all day Sunday, plus Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.

When Christmas or New Year’s lands on a Sunday, the stores stay closed on Monday too.

Beer and wine are easier.

You can grab those at the grocery store on Sunday, starting at 10 in the morning.

It’s a blue law, plain and simple, a holdover from the days when Sunday belonged to church and rest.

Galveston: No Sitting on the Sidewalk

Take a load off on a Galveston sidewalk, and you could be out $500.

The island city’s code, under a section on impeding the sidewalk, makes it an offense to sit or lie down on a public walkway.

The idea was to keep foot traffic flowing in a busy tourist town.

So if your feet give out on the Strand, find a bench. The curb could cost you.

Lubbock: Keep Alcohol at Arm’s Length

Lubbock has a rule that sounds sensible until you read it twice.

It’s against the local code to drive within arm’s reach of alcohol.

Smart enough, until you realize it can include the alcohol in your passenger’s bloodstream.

Picture it. Your designated-driver duties now hinge on the length of your arms and where your buddy is sitting.

Put the cooler in the trunk. Put your friend in the back seat.

Problem solved.

Texarkana: Taillights for Your Horse

Out on the Texas-Arkansas line, your horse has to be road-legal after dark.

A Texarkana ordinance says you can ride at night only if your horse has taillights.

It sounds ridiculous until you picture a pitch-black country road and a rider nobody can see.

Framed that way, the safety logic holds up.

Still, the mental image of a horse rigged with taillights is a hard one to shake.

El Paso: Spittoons on Standby

Long before no-smoking signs, El Paso worried about spitting.

An old city ordinance calls for spittoons in places like churches, hotels, banks, stores, and train depots.

The wording asks for enough of them, of a suitable type, to handle the, ahem, output.

These days, a single spittoon would satisfy the letter of the law.

Finding one might be the bigger challenge.

Port Arthur: Don’t Stink Up the Elevator

Port Arthur wrote common courtesy right into the code.

In this Gulf Coast city, it’s against the rules to emit a foul odor in an elevator.

What counts as foul is left to the imagination, though we can all guess the usual offender.

Next time you’re packed into a crowded lift, remember. In Port Arthur, manners are the law.

Marry Without Showing Up

You don’t have to attend your own Texas wedding.

The state allows proxy marriage, where a stand-in takes your place at the ceremony.

It was built for service members stationed far from home, and it still helps military couples tie the knot across an ocean.

So yes, the marriage counts even if you never set foot in the room.

Romantic? Debatable.

Practical? For some folks, you bet.

Common-Law Marriage Sneaks Up

In Texas, you can end up married without a license, a ring, or a ceremony.

The state recognizes informal marriage.

Agree that you’re married, live together, and tell folks you’re husband and wife, and the law may say you are.

No paperwork to start it. Plenty of paperwork to undo it, since ending one means a real divorce.

Couples who’ve shared a home for years can get a real shock when they learn they already qualify.

Homebrew Has a Ceiling

Brewing your own beer at home is legal in Texas, within reason.

The state caps a household at 200 gallons of homemade beer or wine a year.

A one-person household gets 100.

That’s a mountain of bottles, so the average hobbyist won’t come close.

Sell any of it, though, and you’ve broken the law. Homebrew is for sharing, not for running a side business out of the garage.

Milking the Neighbor’s Cow

Back when cattle were currency, swiping milk from someone else’s cow was serious business.

Texas once made it a crime all its own.