Texas nurses have a new continuing education requirement coming, and the most useful thing anyone can tell you about it right now is what has not been decided. Physicians and physician assistants already have a final 1-hour nutrition rule. Nurses do not: the Texas Board of Nursing has not yet set the hours or the content.
Senate Bill 25 added Section 301.309 to the Occupations Code, titled Continuing Education in Nutrition and Metabolic Health. It applies to license renewals filed on or after January 1, 2027. The statute does not say how many hours you will need. It hands that decision to the Board of Nursing and gives it until December 31, 2026 to adopt the rule.
That gap is the whole story for 2026. Several nursing CE providers are already claiming how many hours are needed, and selling nutrition courses they claim will satisfy the requirement, but until the Board promulgates the exact rules and policies, no one really knows which course subject matter will satisfy the new Texas nursing requirement. As of October 22, 2026, the Board's continuing competency page does not mention nutrition and no updates have come from Board meeting minutes.
Key facts
Section 301.309 requires continuing education in nutrition and metabolic health as part of the requirements under Section 301.303.
It applies to renewal applications filed on or after January 1, 2027.
It covers every "license holder" under Chapter 301, which reaches RNs, LVNs and APRNs.
The number of hours is set by Board rule, not by the statute.
The Board's deadline to adopt that rule is December 31, 2026.
Content must be based on the guidelines of the Texas Nutrition Advisory Committee.
Does Texas SB 25 apply to LVNs and APRNs?
Yes. Section 301.309 reads: "As part of continuing education requirements under Section 301.303, a license holder shall complete, in accordance with this section and rules adopted under this section, continuing education regarding nutrition and metabolic health." It does not name license types.
Section 301.002(3) defines a nurse as a person required to be licensed under Chapter 301 to engage in professional or vocational nursing. So the requirement reaches registered nurses, vocational nurses and advanced practice registered nurses. Some summaries list only RNs and APRNs, which is narrower than the statute. The Board could differentiate by license type in its rule, but that rule does not exist yet. Check your license page for your requirements as they stand today: Texas RN, Texas LVN and Texas APRN.
How many hours of nutrition CE will Texas nurses need?
Nobody knows, because the Board has not said. Section 301.309(b) directs the Board to adopt rules prescribing the number of hours and the content, based on the Texas Nutrition Advisory Committee guidelines. A statute that delegates the hour count does not contain one. Any figure quoted to Texas nurses today is either borrowed from another profession's rule or is a guess.
There are two open questions, not one: how many hours, and what has to be in them. For comparison, the Texas Medical Board has finished its work and set 1 hour for physicians and 1 hour for PAs. While this is not an official prediction, it is common for Boards to follow suit with other boards' rules, so it is likely we'll see a 1 hour CE. This is pretty common across the US with states passing legislation related to nutritional CE and CME. You can follow the national and federal trends with the HHS website posting latest news.
When does the Texas nutrition CE requirement take effect?
The statute applies "only to an application for license renewal filed on or after January 1, 2027." The trigger is the date you file, not the dates your licensing period covers. Whether it touches your next renewal depends on when your license expires, and in Texas that follows your birth month. A nurse born in March renews in March; a nurse born in October renews in October.
Will nutrition CE add hours on top of the 20 already required?
The Board has not answered this for nutrition. What can be said is how Texas has handled targeted continuing education before.
Board Rule 216.3 requires every nurse, for each renewal, to complete 20 contact hours of continuing nursing education in the nurse's area of practice within the licensing period, or to demonstrate a Board-approved national certification. Targeted topics sit on top of that framework: nursing jurisprudence and ethics (at least 2 contact hours every third licensing period), older adult and geriatric care for nurses whose practice includes those patients, and forensic evidence collection for nurses who work in an emergency room. For forensic evidence collection the Board states that those hours do count toward the 20.
The pattern has been to carve targeted topics out of the existing 20 rather than stack new hours on top. That is a pattern, not a promise.
What should Texas nurses do before the rule is published?
Plan the renewal you can plan. The 20 contact hours, the jurisprudence and ethics requirement, and any targeted requirements for your setting are in force today. For Texas nurses, the required human trafficking training is covered by our Texas human trafficking course.
On nutrition, our Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Health course is the course for this requirement, and it counts for every Texas professional, nurses included. It is 1 hour, $30, fully online, with an instant certificate. What nobody can tell you yet is how many hours the Board of Nursing will require. If the Board sets more than 1 hour, we will update this page and our course offering.
Need your 20 contact hours covered too? The Texas Registered Nurse Complete CE Package covers the Texas RN requirements in one place. LVNs and LPNs can start from the Texas LVN CE requirements page. APRNs can use the Texas APRN Complete CEU Package.
Accredited and supported. AchieveCE courses come from an accredited provider, and our support center and live chat are there if you have questions about your requirements or your certificate.
Where this leaves you
The requirement is real, it is statutory, and it arrives at renewals filed from January 1, 2027. The number attached to it is not real yet. Watch for the Board's proposed rule before the end of December 2026. When it comes, it will answer the hour count, whether the hours sit inside the 20, and what documentation the Board expects. If you are deciding whether to buy a course marketed as satisfying the Texas nursing mandate, ask the seller which Board rule they are citing.
Frequently asked questions
Does Texas SB 25 apply to LVNs?
Yes. Section 301.309 applies to a license holder under Chapter 301 of the Occupations Code and does not name license types. Chapter 301 covers professional and vocational nursing, so it reaches RNs, LVNs and APRNs.
How many hours of nutrition and metabolic health CE do Texas nurses need?
The Texas Board of Nursing has not set the number. The statute directs the Board to adopt a rule by December 31, 2026.
When does the Texas nutrition CE requirement start for nurses?
It applies to a license renewal application filed on or after January 1, 2027. The trigger is the filing date.
Will the nutrition hours count toward the 20 contact hours Texas already requires?
The Board has not said. For forensic evidence collection, the Board states the hours do count toward the 20, so there is precedent, but the nutrition rule will settle it.
Luke Porter
Founder
