Texas PE and architect license renewal: what firms need to track

Last checked September 29, 2026. The engineering firm rules here were checked against official sources on that date. CE and architect rules come from our rule tables and aren’t yet confirmed with the Texas boards. Not legal advice.

Engineers: the Texas PE license renewal and CE page has the next deadline, every CE rule with its source, and what changed recently.

If your firm has engineers or architects licensed in Texas, you track three kinds of dates: each person’s license expiration, the end of each person’s CE period, and each firm registration. Two boards are involved. Engineers answer to the Texas Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors (TBPELS). Architects answer to the Texas Board of Architectural Examiners (TBAE).

Two things catch Texas firms out right now. PE dates are moving, so the expiration on your roster may already be out of date. And architect CE runs on the calendar year, while the architect’s license runs to their birth month.

PE license renewal in Texas

A 2025 law (SB 681, effective Sept. 1, 2025) requires a PE license term of at least two years. The board changed its rules to match, effective Jan. 7, 2026 (22 TAC 137.7 and 137.17). A PE license now renews every two years, on the expiration date the board assigns.

To get there, the board is moving every expiration to the end of January or July during the 2026 renewal cycle. Some licenses get one shorter term on the way. The board’s FAQ says that term runs anywhere from 12 to 17 months, depending on the old expiration month. Firm registrations are on the same renewal-date table and are moving to January or July too.

Here is how the board’s FAQ table lays out the PE groups. This comes from board pages, not the rule text.

The 2026 renewal itself also uses the old amount: 15 PDH with at least 1 in ethics. Because dates are moving, look up each engineer on the board’s site rather than trusting an old spreadsheet.

License numbers: Texas PE numbers are plain digits, usually 5 or 6 in current use (for example, PE No. 123456). That’s how SealBench reads them on an imported roster, not a board rule.

PE continuing education (PDH)

• Hours: 30 PDH per two-year renewal period (22 TAC 137.17(c)). A license on a transition term owes 15 PDH instead. That lower figure comes from the board’s FAQ and home page, not the rule text.
• Ethics: At least 2 hours (1 on a transition term). It can be professional ethics, the roles and responsibilities of professional engineering, or a review of the Texas Engineering Practice Act and Board Rules (137.17(d)).
• Limits: Per renewal period, self-directed study counts for at most 10 PDH, professional society leadership for at most 10 (and 5 per organization per calendar year), and educational outreach for at most 6.
• Carryover: None. The current rule says PDH can’t be carried forward (137.17(e)). The board’s older CE FAQ page still shows the one-year wording. Neither the rule nor the two-year FAQ says whether the old 14-PDH carryover still applies to hours earned before Jan. 7, 2026 or during a transition term. Ask the board.
• New licensees: The rule exempts license holders before their first renewal (137.17(n)(1)). The board’s older FAQ is narrower: exempt only if the licensing exam was taken within one calendar year of the issue date. The two sources disagree, so confirm with the board.
• Records: The license holder keeps them for 4 years (137.17(l)).
• Reporting: You certify your hours at renewal, and the board may audit (137.17(k), (m)). Our notes say not to send certificates with the renewal, but we couldn’t find that in the rule text, and 137.7(c)(2) mentions submitting CE documentation. Follow the renewal form and ask the board if unsure.

Architect license renewal and CE in Texas

The architect rules on this page come from our rule tables and haven’t been checked against the architecture board’s rules yet. Check with the board before you rely on them.

Architect registration renews every year and expires on the last day of the architect’s birth month. At renewal, the architect certifies the CE for the prior calendar year. The board is the Texas Board of Architectural Examiners, and each architect’s date is on its registration lookup.

• Hours: 12 hours per calendar year (January 1 to December 31), all in health, safety and welfare (HSW) (22 TAC 1.69). An AIA learning unit counts as one hour.
• Barrier-free design: At least 1 hour on accessibility (TAS, ADA, FHA guidelines). The course needs at least 45 minutes of barrier-free content. It counts inside the 12.
• Sustainable or energy-efficient design: At least 1 hour. It counts inside the 12.
• Structured courses: At least 8 of the 12 hours must be structured course study. Self-directed study (reading, research, service) counts for at most 4.
• Carryover: Up to 12 extra hours carry into the next calendar year only.
• New architects: Exempt from the date of first registration through December 31 of that year.
• Records: The rule says 5 years after the end of the calendar year the hours are claimed for. The TBAE FAQ says 5 years after the end of the registration period. Keeping the longer of the two is the safe reading.
• Reporting: The architect certifies at renewal and TBAE may audit. A false attestation carries a $500 penalty. TBAE doesn’t pre-approve courses.

Firm registration (COA) and qualifier rules

Engineering firms

A firm offering engineering in Texas needs a firm credential from the board: Engineering firm registration (certificate of registration). Any business entity, including a sole proprietorship, must be registered with TBPELS (a certificate of registration) before it offers or performs engineering in Texas (Occ. Code 1001.405(a)-(b); 22 TAC 137.77(a), (d)). Governmental entities are exempt (22 TAC 135.3(d)). The firm must employ at least one full-time active Texas PE (a sole practitioner meets this), and an active license holder must perform or directly supervise all engineering in every office (137.77(b)-(c)). The firm must notify the board in writing within 30 days of changes to its contact information, officers or directors, the employment status of its PEs, its offices, or if it stops offering engineering (137.73). The rules give no grace period to replace the last full-time PE: without one the firm may not offer engineering and its registration goes inactive (137.77(d), (g)). Engineering documents must show the firm name and registration number (137.77(h)). Registrations renew every two years on the date the board assigns (137.75(a)). Under SB 681 (2025) TBPELS is moving every firm registration to an end-of-January or end-of-July expiration during the 2026 renewal cycle. Fees: new firm $150 (sole practitioner $25); renewal $150 for one year or $300 for two ($25/$50 sole practitioner); late renewal $150 on top ($25 sole practitioner). A registration expired more than one year must re-apply (137.75(c)).

Engineering firm renewal: Every two years on the board-assigned date (22 TAC 137.75(a)), moving to end of January or July. 2026 firm renewals go to (current expiration -> next expiration, fee paid): Jan 2026 -> Jan 2027 (one year); Feb, Mar, Apr 2026 -> Jul 2027 (one year); May, Jun, Jul 2026 -> Jul 2028 (two years); Aug, Sep, Oct 2026 -> Jan 2028 (one year); Nov, Dec 2026 -> Jan 2029 (two years); Jan 2027 -> Jan 2029 and Jul 2027 -> Jul 2029 (two years).

Checked against official sources, September 29, 2026 Texas Occupations Code 1001.405 (business entity registration) and 1001.351 (term not less than two years; SB 681, 2025), in the TBPELS Acts and Rules effective June 18, 2026; 22 TAC 135.3, 137.73 (30-day change notice), 137.75 (two-year renewal), 137.77 (firm compliance), in the TBPELS Acts and Rules effective June 18, 2026; TBPELS FAQ: License and Registration Renewal Dates (SB 681 schedule for engineering firms and PEs).

See what to do when your qualifying engineer gives notice.

Architecture firms

A firm or other business that offers or provides architecture in Texas must register with TBAE every year (22 TAC 1.124).

• Who it needs: The firm must employ or contract with a Texas registered architect. There is no ownership rule. When a firm works with people who aren’t registered, the architect must prepare, or keep supervision and control over, all construction documents (22 TAC 1.122).
• If the architect leaves: A firm that can no longer lawfully offer architecture must tell TBAE within 30 days, unless it employs or contracts with an architect within that window.
• Fees and renewal: $45 to register and $45 a year, due by the anniversary of the first registration. Late renewal costs 1.5 times the fee up to 90 days late, and 2 times after that.
• Exceptions: A registered sole practitioner working under their own name doesn’t need a separate firm registration. A firm offering several TBAE professions (architecture, landscape architecture, interior design) pays one fee.

Firms that offer both

An A/E firm needs two registrations. TBAE covers architects, landscape architects and interior designers only. Engineering firms register separately with TBPELS. That means two firm records, two fees and two renewal dates to track.

Who can seal drawings in Texas

Texas doesn’t limit a PE license by discipline. An engineer seals only work within their own competence, which your firm has to judge. Our table shows no separate structural engineer (SE) license in Texas, which we haven’t confirmed with the board.

Engineers on architectural sheets are limited:

• Only engineers on TBAE’s closed list may practice architecture (Occupations Code 1051.607). They had to be licensed before Jan. 1, 2011 and apply by Jan. 1, 2012.
• Anyone who doesn’t claim to be an architect, engineers included, may design exempt buildings (1051.606). These include farm buildings, one- and two-family homes, multifamily buildings up to two stories and 16 units, commercial buildings up to two stories and 20,000 sq ft, and some warehouses.
• An architect must prepare the plans for 24-hour custodial care buildings, and for public education, assembly or office buildings over $100,000 new or $50,000 altered (1051.703).
• An owner may hire either an architect or an engineer as the prime design professional.

Texas architects seal, sign and date construction documents issued for permits, regulatory approval or construction, and may do so electronically. Other documents carry the architect’s name, the date and the note “Not for regulatory approval, permitting, or construction” (22 TAC 1.102).

Before a set goes out, every sheet has to pass four checks: a Texas license, the right discipline, a license still active on the issue date, and the firm’s registration. Compare Texas with other states on who can seal drawings, by state.

Common mistakes

• Trusting last year’s expiration date. Texas is moving every PE license, and every engineering firm registration, to a January or July expiration. Recheck each date on the board’s site.
• Using one CE number for every engineer. During the transition, some engineers owe 15 PDH with 1 in ethics and others owe 30 with 2. It depends on the license’s term, as the table above shows.
• Banking extra PDH. Under the current rule, PE hours don’t carry into the next period.
• Counting architect CE against the license dates. Architect CE runs January to December, but the license expires in the architect’s birth month. They don’t line up.
• Registering an A/E firm with only one board. A firm that offers both keeps a TBPELS registration and a TBAE registration, each with its own renewal date.
• Missing TBAE’s 30-day window. If an architecture firm loses its Texas architect and can no longer lawfully offer architecture, it has 30 days to tell TBAE or bring in another architect.

Where to file

SealBench never files anything with a board for you. Renewals, CE reports and firm registrations go to each board directly:

• Texas Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors (engineers and engineering firms)
• TBPELS two-year renewal FAQ (new renewal dates)
• Texas Board of Architectural Examiners (architects and architecture firms)
• TBAE business registration
• TBAE architect registration lookup

How SealBench helps

SealBench puts every PE and architect license and every firm registration on your roster in one list, soonest expiration first. Reminders at 90, 60 and 30 days before each date are coming soon. It counts each person’s CE hours and required topics against Texas’s rules. Set Check shows who can seal each sheet in a Texas permit set, and why anyone can’t. One license is free to track; see pricing.