Virtual Stakeholder Meeting

Stakeholder meetings are an opportunity for the public to provide informal comments to staff prior to the start of formal rulemaking. While staff will review all comments received, the TCEQ will not formally respond to any informal comments.

The stakeholder meeting will be virtual, held on Monday October 20, 2025, at 10:00am.

For members of the public who do not wish to provide informal comments but would like to view the meeting, they may do so at the link provided below, at no cost:
https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/a09134d6-d706-4fa7-9454-12c5b1da0a75@871a83a4-a1ce-4b7a-8156-3bcd93a08fba

Individuals who plan to attend the scheduled meetings and want to provide informal oral comments must register by October 16, 2025. To register for a meeting and provide informal comments during the meeting, please email Rules@tceq.texas.gov and provide the following information: date of meeting you plan to attend, your name, your affiliation, your email address, and your phone number.

Written stakeholder comments may be submitted to Ms. Gwen Ricco, MC 205, Office of Legal Services, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, Texas 78711-3087, or faxed to fax4808@tceq.texas.gov. Electronic comments may be submitted at: https://tceq.commentinput.com/. File size restrictions may apply to comments being submitted via the TCEQ Public Comment system. All comments should reference Rule Project Number 2025-027-030-WS. The comment period closes November 3, 2025. Please choose one form of submittal when submitting written stakeholder comments.

Changes to Licensing Requirements

Ethics

On September 25, 2024, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ or commission) received two related petitions from the Water Environment Association of Texas (WEAT) and the Texas Section of the American Water Works Association (TAWWA) (petitioners). The petitioners requested that the commission revise 30 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Chapter 30, Occupational Licenses and Registrations, particularly Sections 30.392 and 30.342, to require continuing education (CE) ethics training for renewal of all levels of public water system and wastewater operator licenses as part of the current renewal requirements. The petitioners requested that four hours of ethics training be required in each renewal cycle, which is every three years. The proposed ethics training would count towards the 30 CE credits currently required to renew a license.
TCEQ is seeking input on whether this issue is best addressed in rule and if so, how many CE credits of ethics would be appropriate and if this requirement should be part of the 30 CE credits already required to renew a license.
A copy of the petition received by TCEQ can be found here: https://www.tceq.texas.gov/downloads/rules/current/25005pet.pdf
The Commissioners approved the petition at the Commissioners’ Agenda held on November 20, 2024.

Extending License Renewal Period

HB 1237 allows licensed individuals additional time to renew any license or registration up to 180 days past expiration, for licenses that expire on or after September 1, 2025. The bill allows TCEQ to charge up to 1.5 times the normal fee to renew a license or registration that is up to 90 days past expiration and up to two times the normal renewal fee to renew a license or registration that is more than 90 days but not more than 180 days past expiration. Previously, the statute only allowed an individual to renew their license up to 30 days past the expiration date and allowed a licensing agency to charge up to 1.5 times the normal fee. TCEQ proposes to set the renewal fees for 1.5 times the normal fee and 2 times the normal fee for license and registration applications that are submitted up to 90 and 180 days past expiration respectively. For 3-year licenses, this would equate to $166.50 and $222 respectively.
Please note, the statute and proposed rulemaking only allow an individual additional time to submit the application but do not allow an individual additional time to complete the continuing education that is required to renew a license. All continuing education must be completed prior to the expiration date of the license to be eligible for renewal.

Military Reciprocity

HB 5629 and SB 1818 amend the process for military service members, veterans, and military spouses applying for a reciprocal license.
HB 5629 amends the reciprocal process for military service members, veterans, and military spouses with an occupational license from another state seeking an occupational license in Texas on or after September 1, 2025. The review process for reciprocal licenses will be based on whether the license in the other state is similar in scope of practice to a license in Texas, regardless of whether the requirements are substantially equivalent to Texas or how the license was obtained. A military member, veteran, or military spouse, applying for a reciprocal license in Texas, would need to provide supporting documentation to prove that he or she is in good standing with the state from which he or she holds a license by submitting a notarized affidavit. HB 5629 gives TCEQ 10 days to respond to an applicant as to 1) whether they qualify for the reciprocal license, 2) the application is incomplete, or 3) the agency is unable to recognize the applicant’s out-of-state license. HB 5629 also requires TCEQ to waive the application fee for all applications for a new license submitted by a military service member, veteran, or military spouse. Additionally, HB 5629 requires TCEQ to maintain a record of complaints made against military service members, veterans, or military spouses with reciprocal licenses and publish these complaints quarterly on the agency’s website.
SB 1818 requires state licensing authorities to promptly issue a provisional license or license to military member, veterans, and military spouses who apply for a reciprocal license. The provisional license would expire when the agency approves or denies the application for a reciprocal license or 180 days after the provisional license is issued, whichever comes first.

Automatic Revocation

SB 1080 amended the automatic revocation of licenses following a felony conviction. It continues to require TCEQ to automatically revoke a license for a felony conviction that results in imprisonment for an offense that directly relates to the duties and responsibilities of the licensed occupation, an offense listed in Article 42A.054, Code of Criminal Procedure, or a sexually violent offense, as defined by Article 62.001, Code of Criminal Procedures. However, while it allows it, it no longer requires automatic revocation for all other felony convictions that resulted in imprisonment. Previously, the statute required automatic revocation for all licensees that received any felony conviction that resulted in imprisonment.
The bill did not affect the requirement to revoke a license on the license holder’s imprisonment following a felony community supervision revocation, revocation of parole, or revocation of mandatory supervision.

Other Changes

Other minor updates to 30 TAC Chapter 30 will be made, as necessary, to provide consistency with other licensing requirements and rules.