30 Hour Texas Professional Engineer Continuing Education Online Renewal Course

✅ All 30 PDH Including Both Required Ethics Hours | Built for the Two-Year Renewal Cycle Under 22 TAC §137.17 | Only $249.99 | Instant Emailed Certificate | 100% Online & Self-Paced

Texas Professional Engineer renewals are now two years long, and a two-year term requires 30 professional development hours including 2 hours of ethics. This course is the whole requirement in one place. Senate Bill 681 from the 89th Legislature made the change and the conforming Board rules took effect January 7, 2026, which means a package built for the old annual cycle no longer finishes the job for most licensees.

The ethics side is where the change bites hardest. A two-year term needs 2 ethics hours, not 1, and ethics hours can never be satisfied with hours carried forward from a previous renewal period. Both ethics hours in this course are written around Texas material specifically: the Rules of Professional Conduct, the Texas Engineering Practice Act, and applied analysis of the conduct questions that actually reach the Board.

Everything is online and self-paced, so you can log in and out without losing progress and finish on your own schedule from a phone, tablet, or computer. Short knowledge checks run throughout instead of a final exam, and your certificate is emailed the moment you finish. Texas engineers certify their own continuing education at renewal, so you keep the certificate with your records rather than waiting on anyone to report it for you.

✅ Course Details

• Course name: 30 Hour Texas Professional Engineer Continuing Education Online Renewal Course
• Governing board: Texas Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors (TBPELS)
• Credit: 30 professional development hours (PDH), including 2 hours of ethics
• Covers: The complete requirement for a two-year Texas PE renewal term
• Course category: Structured continuing education coursework relevant to the practice of engineering
• Course format: 100% online, self-paced, with section timers and knowledge checks
• Assessment: Knowledge checks throughout the course. No final exam.
• Price: $249.99 for all 30 hours
• Certificate: Emailed instantly on completion
• Reporting: Texas PEs self-certify at renewal and retain records for three years
• Support: Call or text 1-800-698-2770

✅ Built for the Two-Year Renewal Cycle

Senate Bill 681, passed by the 89th Legislature in 2025, converted Texas Professional Engineer renewals from an annual cycle to a two-year cycle. TBPELS adopted the conforming amendments to its continuing education rules effective January 7, 2026. The practical result is that the requirement most Texas engineers grew up with, 15 hours with 1 ethics hour every year, is now 30 hours with 2 ethics hours every two years.

That sounds like the same annual workload, and arithmetically it is. What changes is what a package has to contain to finish your renewal. A 15-hour package with a single ethics hour was a complete renewal under the old rule. Under a two-year term it is half the hours and half the ethics requirement, and the ethics shortfall is the part that cannot be patched with carried-forward credit.

Renewal dates are moving too. Texas PE licenses historically expired at the end of the calendar quarter tied to when the license was originally granted, producing March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31 expiration dates. TBPELS is consolidating every expiration to the end of January or the end of July, phased in across 2026 through 2029, and the Board provides the additional transition months at no extra charge.

How this course helps: This course is the full two-year requirement in a single enrollment, 30 PDH with both ethics hours included, so there is nothing left to source separately and no risk of discovering an ethics gap at renewal. If your particular term is still a one-year transition term, our 15-hour package covers that instead.

✅ Who Should Take This Course?

• Texas licensed Professional Engineers renewing on a full two-year term
• Engineers who want the entire 30-hour requirement satisfied in one enrollment
• Engineers who still need both mandatory ethics hours, which can never be carried over
• Engineers who completed a 15-hour package and have discovered they owe 30
• Out-of-state PEs who also hold a Texas license and must meet Texas requirements
• Engineers returning to active status from inactive who must show current compliance
• Engineers who want Texas-specific law, rules, and regulatory-program content rather than generic technical hours

✅ Does This Course Satisfy the State Requirement?

This course provides 30 professional development hours, including 2 hours of ethics content that meets the subject matter the Board identifies for the ethics requirement. That is the complete requirement for a Texas PE whose renewal term is a full two years.

If your renewal term is one year, or a shorter transition term, the requirement is 15 PDH including 1 ethics hour. This course still works, and the extra hours count toward your general professional development total, but our 15-hour package is sized to that term if you would rather match it exactly.

One point deserves a plain answer, because it is the first thing most engineers ask. TBPELS does not pre-approve continuing education providers or courses, and it publishes no list of approved courses. No provider in Texas can truthfully call a PDH course board approved, and you should be skeptical of any that does. Under the Board rules, the licensee decides whether an activity qualifies, and the Board is the final authority if the record is ever audited. This course is built to the standard the rule sets: structured coursework, relevant to the practice of engineering, with educational, technical, ethical, and managerial content, documented on a certificate that carries everything an audit asks for.

✅ Texas PE Continuing Education Requirements

Texas Professional Engineers must complete continuing education as a condition of license renewal under 22 TAC §137.17. How many hours you owe depends on the length of your particular renewal term during the phase-in from annual to two-year renewals.

• Two-year renewal term: 30 PDH, of which 2 hours must be ethics
• One-year or shorter transition term: 15 PDH, of which 1 hour must be ethics
• Ethics subject matter: professional ethics, the roles and responsibilities of professional engineering, or a review of the Texas Engineering Practice Act and Board Rules
• Ethics hours may never be satisfied with hours carried forward from a previous renewal period
• Self-directed study, such as reading trade publications or watching general online content, is capped
• Structured online and correspondence courses are a separate category and are not subject to that cap
• Records must be kept for three years and are subject to audit after renewal

That last pair of points is worth understanding before you buy anything. Texas caps how much credit you can claim for informal self-directed study, and casual online reading falls in that capped category. Structured coursework with defined content, timed sections, and a completion certificate from a sponsoring organization is treated separately and is not capped, which is why a complete 30-hour online course is fully usable while an equivalent number of hours of unstructured reading is not.

How this course helps: This course provides all 30 professional development hours and both ethics hours in one enrollment, structured and timed section by section so the credit sits in the uncapped category. Confirm your own renewal term length and hour total in your Board profile before you rely on any provider's summary, including ours.

✅ How to Renew Your Texas PE License

1. Confirm your renewal term and hour total. Check your license record for your expiration date, then determine whether your term is one year or two years. That determines whether you owe 15 PDH with 1 ethics hour or 30 PDH with 2 ethics hours.
2. Complete your professional development hours before your expiration date, making sure your ethics hours are earned in this cycle rather than carried forward from a previous one.
3. Save your certificates and keep a log showing the activity type, sponsoring organization, location, duration, instructor or speaker, and hours earned. Texas requires these records to be kept for three years.
4. Sign in to the Board's online license system to renew. You can also update your mailing address and employment information there, both of which must be reported to the Board within 30 days of a change.
5. Certify that you completed your continuing education. Do not send certificates or logs with your renewal. Texas uses an attestation model, and documentation is produced only if you are selected for an audit after renewal.
6. Complete the one-time criminal history record check if you have not already submitted fingerprints to the Board. Once they are on file, this is not repeated at each renewal.
7. Pay the renewal fee and save your receipt. Late renewal adds fees, and a license expired for two years or more cannot be renewed at all.
8. Verify your license shows an active status with an updated expiration date on the Board's public engineer roster.

✅ What You Will Learn

• How the Texas Engineering Practice Act defines the practice of engineering, and where its exemptions stop
• The Rules of Professional Conduct and the specific duties each one imposes on a Texas licensee
• How to seal work correctly, including electronic seals, multi-engineer plan sets, and responsible charge
• When the duty to protect the public requires you to escalate beyond your client, and how to document it
• How qualifications-based selection governs public engineering work, and the reporting duty most engineers miss
• How TxDOT precertification and consultant contracting actually work, including where design-build inverts the usual selection rules
• The Texas dam safety program end to end: applicability, hazard classification, design review, inspection, and emergency action plans
• Floodplain engineering under the NFIP, including the three encroachment standards that are routinely confused
• Water well construction standards and where the TDLR and TCEQ rules give different answers for the same well
• The Texas statutory standard of care, the certificate of merit, repose periods, and anti-indemnity limits
• How the sealing and supervision rules apply to automated and machine-learning design tools
• How to keep continuing education records that survive a Board audit

✅ Course Content Overview

The course is organized into thirty one-hour sections grouped into six modules. Each section carries a timer and a short knowledge check, and each is documented separately so your hours are traceable section by section.

Texas Engineering Law, Rules, and Ethics (4 hours, includes ethics hour 1)

• Rules of Professional Conduct and the mandatory ethics hour
• The Texas Engineering Practice Act: scope of practice and exemptions
• Licensure renewal and continuing education under the two-year cycle
• Board enforcement, complaints, discipline, and sanctions

Sealing, Responsible Charge, and Engineering Documentation (3 hours)

• Seal specifications and sealing procedures under the Board rules
• Electronic seals, digital signatures, and sealing misconduct
• Responsible charge, direct supervision, and multi-engineer documents

Public Protection, Competence, and Professional Duty (6 hours, includes ethics hour 2)

• The engineer's duty to protect the public
• Competence, expert testimony, and the certificate of merit
• Objectivity, truthfulness, and conflicts of interest
• Applied ethics: Board disciplinary case analysis
• Confidentiality, faithful agency, and duties to clients and employers
• Unlicensed practice, title protection, and multi-jurisdictional practice

Texas Regulatory Practice Requirements (5 hours)

• Qualifications-based selection and the Professional Services Procurement Act
• Firm registration and governmental entity compliance
• Texas Accessibility Standards and the Architectural Barriers program
• Windstorm engineering and the Texas coastal certification process
• Building code adoption and enforcement in Texas

Public Works, Transportation, and Water Resources Engineering (8 hours)

• Engineering for public works in Texas
• TxDOT project delivery, precertification, and consultant contracting
• Design criteria, design exceptions, waivers, and variances
• Texas dam safety: applicability, classification, and the engineer's statutory role
• Dam design review, construction approval, and inspection requirements
• Emergency action plans and dam emergency management
• Floodplain management, NFIP compliance, and Texas flood planning
• Water wells, groundwater districts, and public water supply engineering

Professional Practice, Risk, and Technology (4 hours)

• Quality assurance, peer review, and engineering document control
• Standard of care, professional liability, and risk management
• Electronic engineering documents, digital delivery, and data integrity
• Emerging technology, automated tools, and the duty of competence

✅ Other Related Texas Courses

• 15 Hour Texas Professional Engineer CE - Texas – $139.99
• 2 Hour Texas Engineering Laws, Rules and Ethics - Texas – $34.99
• 1 Hour Texas Professional Engineer Ethics - Texas – $19.99
• 4 Hour Electrical Renewal - Texas (TDLR) – $27.99
• 8 Hour HVAC / ACR Renewal - Texas – $35.99
• 8 Hour Water Well / Pump Installer Renewal - Texas – $69.00
• 12 Hour Property Tax Consultant Renewal - Texas – $39.00

✅ Why Choose 1st Choice CE?

• Written specifically for Texas engineers, citing the Practice Act and Board rules section by section
• Both ethics hours are Texas-specific, not generic ethics content
• Updated for Senate Bill 681 and the two-year renewal cycle that took effect in 2026
• One flat price of $249.99 for all 30 hours, with no per-course add-ons
• 100% online and self-paced, on any device
• Log in and out anytime without losing your progress
• Knowledge checks throughout instead of a final exam
• Instant emailed certificate with everything a Board audit asks for
• Money-back guarantee
• Over 10 years of continuing education experience
• Support by phone or text at 1-800-698-2770. Hablamos español.

✅ Enroll Now

Get all 30 professional development hours, including both required ethics hours, for $249.99. Enroll online, start whenever you are ready, and finish at your own pace. Your certificate is emailed the moment you complete the course, so you can certify your renewal with confidence and keep the documentation on file.

Questions before you enroll? Call or text 1-800-698-2770 and a real person will help you figure out exactly how many hours you owe this cycle and whether the 30-hour or the 15-hour package is the right fit.