Polygraph Examiners

Military Service Members, Veterans, and Spouses - For more information about obtaining a TDLR license or renewing a TDLR license that expired while serving on active duty, please go to the Military Outreach home page.

The Polygraph Advisory Committee met March 28 in Austin. The agenda and staff report (PDF) are available online. The meeting was archived and is available on TDLR's YouTube channel.

Polygraph Advisory Committee Votes Against Use of Voice Stress Analysis - The Polygraph Advisory Committee voted unanimously against allowing Texas polygraph examiners to use voice stress analyzers to detect deception and to verify truth, at its November 4, 2014, public meeting in Austin. The Committee vote was made in response to changes to the Texas Polygraph Examiners Act created by passage last year of Senate Bill 562 by the Texas Legislature to allow the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) to expand those devices authorized for use by polygraph examiners. Lie detectors, polygraphs, and deceptographs are the only devices currently authorized by TDLR for use by polygraph examiners. The five-member Committee is responsible for advising TDLR, which licenses 272 polygraph examiners, on how to administer and enforce the Act.

"The Polygraph Advisory Committee reviewed scientific evidence and the feedback it received in March at the Texas Polygraph Summit before concluding that neither voice stress analysis nor computerized voice stress analysis are scientifically valid to detect truth or deception," said William K. 'Bill' Teigen, Committee Chairman. "As a result our Committee strongly urges TDLR not add any form of voice stress analysis to those instruments authorized for use by polygraph examiners to detect truth or deception in the Lone Star State."

Email updates from TDLR about the Polygraph Examiners Program or any other TDLR program are available by signing up on the TDLR Email Updates page.