SB1535

The workforce commission must collaborate with the Texas Education Agency and Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and consult representatives designated by the Public Utility Commission to coordinate state nuclear-energy strategies. The plan must address labor shortages and worker retention, and plan for financial assistance—including public/private partnerships—to support:

• Public-school outreach about nuclear science and careers.
• Pathways from secondary school into higher-education training.
• Higher-education nuclear-energy education and training programs.
• Research and leadership development at general academic teaching institutions.

These are required planning purposes, not an automatic grant or scholarship entitlement. The act specifies no appropriation or individual award amount. Final law.

The commission must develop customized requirements for degree and certificate curricula, consulting the education agencies, public universities, technical institutes, junior colleges, designated utility-commission representatives and nuclear-industry employers. The focus is pathways and curricula for nuclear-grade welding; radiation control and monitoring; reactor operations; nuclear instrumentation and control; and nuclear, electrical, chemical, civil and environmental engineering. Programs may be offered by covered institutions only subject to the coordinating board’s approval framework. The incorporated institutional definitions refer to the specified public institutions and agencies; the act does not order every college to open a program. Final law; Education Code §61.003; Education Code §61.0512.

By September 1 each year, the workforce commission must report its program activities to each legislative standing committee with primary jurisdiction over workforce development, higher education or energy-industry matters. It consults both education agencies in preparing the report; recommendations for further action are optional. Final law.

Changes during passage: the introduced bill assigned the nuclear-strategy consultation role to the Railroad Commission. The Senate substitute changed that to the Public Utility Commission, and the Senate-passed text retained it. The House substitute added the Texas Education Agency, public-school awareness efforts and secondary-to-college pathways, including pathways in the curriculum work. All those House changes survived into the final law. No floor amendments are separately indexed; the material changes are in the committee substitutes. Introduced; Senate substitute; Senate-passed; House substitute; Version index; Amendment index; Final law.

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

Students and employers could benefit from better-connected training routes and programs aligned with industry needs. Agencies and participating institutions face planning, consultation, curriculum and reporting work. “High-wage jobs” is a statutory goal, not a promised wage, job placement or measured result. The act establishes workforce duties; it does not license a reactor or establish that a particular training program is already operating. Final law.

All four fiscal notes—March 16 introduced, March 24 Senate substitute, April 30 Senate-passed and May 9 House substitute—anticipate no significant state or local-government fiscal impact and assume state costs can be absorbed using existing resources. That estimate is not an appropriation or proof that future training has no cost. Introduced fiscal note; Senate-substitute fiscal note; Senate-passed fiscal note; House-substitute fiscal note; Final law.