SB2431

The credit is an option, not an automatic award. The institution must offer a way for enrolled students to earn foreign-language credit as part of the qualifying component or program. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board must adopt necessary rules defining the covered components or programs and how students may earn the credit. The act does not set a number of credit hours, require every student to take the option, or guarantee credit merely for traveling. Final law, Education Code 51.313.

Coverage and timing changed during passage. The introduced, Senate committee and Senate-passed operative texts matched. They included private or independent institutions and started in 2025–26. The House committee substitute removed those private institutions, expressly included study-abroad components as well as programs, required rules defining coverage and the way to earn credit, and moved application to 2026–27. All those changes survived in the final law. The incorporated definition of institution of higher education covers public institutions; it is not a mandate for every private college. Introduced; Senate committee; Senate-passed; House substitute; Final law; Incorporated definitions, section 61.003(8) and (15).

The official amendment index lists no separate amendments. The history’s House-amendment and Senate-concurrence entries correspond to a changed House version; the House committee and final operative texts match. These are committee-substitute changes, not separately indexed floor amendments. Amendment index; Text-version index; History.

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 in qualifying programs gain an additional credit opportunity; institutions and the coordinating board must arrange the option and its rules. The latest fiscal note anticipates no significant state or local fiscal implication and assumes costs can be absorbed with existing resources. That is an estimate, not a new appropriation or a promise that study abroad or additional credits will be free. The act provides no individual travel subsidy. This review establishes the enacted requirement, not whether a particular institution has implemented it or how a student’s credits will count toward a specific degree. May 20 fiscal note; Earlier fiscal note; Final law.