Are you a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Texas? Unlike states with a single mass expiration date, the Texas Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors (TBPELS) mandates that licenses expire quarterly based on your date of licensure or birth month. Check your physical license pocket card or the TBPELS online roster to verify your specific expiration date.

Texas professional engineers are required to complete 15 continuing education credits/hours each annual renewal cycle.

At least 1 hour must cover the Texas Engineering Practice Act and Board Rules and/or ethics, including professional ethics, roles and responsibilities of professional engineers, or review of the Board’s laws and rules. This required ethics or Act/Rules hour must be earned during each renewal period and may not be carried forward.

Qualifying continuing education activities must be relevant to the practice of engineering and may include educational, technical, ethical, or managerial content. Texas recognizes a wide range of qualifying activities, including college courses, continuing education courses, correspondence or online courses, televised or videotaped short courses and tutorials, seminars, in-house courses, workshops, professional or technical presentations, teaching, published work, professional or technical society participation, patents, self-directed study, and educational outreach activities.

Texas does not pre-approve continuing education courses, providers, seminars, presentations, or other activities, so each licensee is responsible for selecting appropriate continuing education and maintaining documentation in case of audit. Licensees certify completion at renewal and should keep supporting records such as certificates of completion, agendas, receipts, sign-in sheets, or other documentation showing the date, location, duration, provider, course type, and subject matter.

Up to 14 hours of non-ethics continuing education may be carried forward from the previous year, while the required annual ethics or Act/Rules hour cannot be carried over.