Texas RN licenses renew every two years through the Texas Nurse Portal. Renewal requires 20 contact hours of continuing nursing education and a $68 fee. A 2-hour nursing jurisprudence and ethics course is required once every third renewal cycle, and a human trafficking prevention course is required each renewal.
The Texas BON requires 20 contact hours of continuing nursing education per two-year cycle, from providers accredited by the ANCC or approved by the Texas BON.
Nursing jurisprudence and ethics: a 2-hour course is required once every third two-year cycle — every six years. It counts within the 20 hours.
Human trafficking prevention: an HHSC-approved course is required every renewal.
Practice-specific targeted CE may apply depending on your setting — for example, older adult and geriatric populations for many RN roles and forensic evidence collection for emergency department nurses. Confirm the current list on the Texas BON CE FAQ.
New for 2026 — Senate Bill 912. Beginning September 1, 2026, CE completion certificates must be uploaded in the Texas Nurse Portal before a license can renew. Attestation alone will no longer be enough. This is a behavior change most Texas nurses have not yet absorbed — start keeping every certificate together now.
Delinquent renewal requires a late fee on top of the $68 renewal. Practicing with an expired Texas RN license is grounds for board discipline separate from the underlying license issue.
Licenses expired for more than eight years require formal reactivation with refresher requirements — see the Texas BON reactivation page.
Trust stores your CE certificates on-device — ready for the SB 912 upload — and reminds you at 90, 60, 30, and 7 days before your Texas birthday-linked deadline.