The Texas Register of August 14, 2026 carries a proposal from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to rewrite the renewal rule for the occupational licenses it issues under 30 TAC Chapter 30, the Landscape Irrigator license among them. The proposal would let a license be renewed up to 180 days after it expires, at 1.5 or 2 times the normal fee, so that 30 TAC 30.24 matches Water Code 37.006 as House Bill 1237 amended it with effect from September 1, 2025. It is still a proposal. On the Secretary of State’s rule viewer for 30.24, the August 14 entry is listed as Proposed with no adoption after it, and the rule text still reads 30 days.
So for now the statute and the rule say different things, and the proposal is TCEQ’s plan to close the gap.
Water Code 37.006 from September 1, 2025: three bands
House Bill 1237 of the 89th Legislature was signed on June 20, 2025 and took effect on September 1, 2025. It rewrote the late renewal part of section 37.006 into three bands:
- Expired not more than 90 days. The license may be renewed for a fee “not to exceed 1-1/2 times the normally required renewal fee” (subsection (f)). A person who has applied in this band may keep doing work that needs the license until the renewal is granted or denied.
- Expired at least 90 days but not more than 180 days. Renewal is still allowed, for a fee not to exceed two times the normal fee (subsection (g)). The statute gives no permission to keep working in this band, so subsection (e) applies: no licensed work until the license is renewed.
- Expired at least 180 days. The license “may not” be renewed. The way back is a new license, “including the examination requirements” (subsection (h)).
The statute caps the late fees. It leaves the amounts to commission rule.
30 TAC 30.24 still reads 30 days
The rule, last amended with effect from March 23, 2025, predates the bill and keeps the old 30-day window. Under 30.24(a)(1) and (f), a renewal application has to be received or postmarked within 30 days after the expiration date, and subsection (f) says those 30 days do not “grant the person authorization to perform duties requiring a license”. Under 30.24(g), an irrigator who misses the 30 days must meet the current education, training and experience requirements, file a new application and pass the examination again. Subsection (s) bars licensed work on an expired license until it is renewed.
The license fee in 30 TAC 30.30(c) is $111 for a three-year license, paid with each initial and renewal application. That section sets no separate late fee today.
The August 2026 proposal, point by point
These are proposed amendments, and none of them is in force unless TCEQ adopts them.
| Point | 30.24 and 30.30 today | Water Code 37.006, from September 1, 2025 | Proposed in August 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Last day to renew | 30 days after expiry | 180 days after expiry | 180 days after expiry |
| Fee, on time | $111 | the normal fee | $111 |
| Fee, up to 90 days late | no late fee; renewal only within the 30 days | up to 1.5 times | $166.50 |
| Fee, 91 to 180 days late | no renewal | up to 2 times | $222 |
| Work while the application is pending | no | yes, up to 90 days late | yes, if received within 90 days |
| Renewal notice | “mail a renewal notification” | “written notice” | “written notice”, which may be email |
| Continuing education | before expiry | not addressed | within 90 days after expiry, for a renewal filed in that window |
The preamble gives the reasons in its own words. On the notice, it points out that the rule says “mail” where the statute says “written notice”, and that the change “would allow the ED to send the notifications via email”. On deficiencies, the proposal would give an applicant 30 days or until 90 days past expiry, whichever is later, to tell TCEQ a problem with the application is fixed.
Training: where the proposal goes past the statute
An irrigator renews on 24 hours of approved training (30 TAC 30.122(b)), and 30.24(d) today says the training must be completed “before the expiration date of the current license”. TCEQ staff told the Irrigator Advisory Council the same thing on August 7, 2025: the bill gave more time to renew, but continuing education still has to be done before the expiration date (council minutes, p. 2).
The proposal would change that for one group. A person who applies within 90 days after expiry could finish the training within those 90 days. A person who applies later could not use training taken after expiry. The preamble says that the statute does not “expressly address” training in this window, and offers the change as following “the flexibility added by HB 1237”.
TCEQ’s renewal page already applies the statute
TCEQ’s renewal requirements page already works to the statute. It names the bill, gives the 180 days, and lists the three fees the proposal would write into 30.30: $111 on or before the expiration date, $166.50 for 1 to 90 days after it, and $222 for 91 to 180 days. It also says that a person who has applied within 90 days of expiry may keep working until the renewal is granted or denied, and that a person who has not applied by then may not.
On training, the page holds the line the current rule draws, not the proposal’s: continuing education must be completed before the license expires, and missing it “will result in the denial of the renewal application, regardless of when it is submitted during the 180-day grace period”.
Four texts, then, and they do not all agree on the late window or on training. A renewal filed before the expiration date, with the 24 hours finished, satisfies the statute, the rule as it reads, the proposal and the page. Past 180 days, all four agree there is nothing left to renew, and the route back runs through a new application and the exam again (the Installation practice questions are one place to start).