SB2786

The three new categories are: a student certified as an emergency medical technician under Health and Safety Code Chapter 773 who is also employed by a political subdivision, such as a local government; a student included in the statutory definition of fire protection personnel in Government Code 419.021; and a student elected, appointed or employed to serve as a peace officer described by Code of Criminal Procedure Article 2A.001 or other law. EMT certification alone is not enough: the public-employer condition also matters. The fire category uses a defined class of personnel, not everyone described informally as a first responder. Final law, section 1.

The act retains the six existing exemption categories, including qualifying graduates, transfers, short certificate-program students and military-service categories. It adds the three new categories to the provision saying the Texas Success Initiative subchapter does not apply. It does not award college credit, a degree, a scholarship or automatic admission. Earlier academic terms remain under the previous law. Final law, sections 1–2.

The Senate committee substitute clarified the original drafting, used the statutory fire-personnel definition without the introduced wording’s separate certification phrase, restated the full exemption list and added the fall-2025 transition rule. Those provisions survived unchanged through engrossment, the House committee report and enrollment. The official amendment index lists no floor amendments; the substitute should not be described as a floor amendment. Introduced text; Senate substitute; All versions; 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.

Qualifying students can avoid the initiative’s assessment requirement, and public institutions must apply the added exemptions from the specified semester. The exemption itself does not establish that every covered student is academically prepared or guarantee graduation; individual eligibility still depends on the listed legal categories. Final law.

Both posted fiscal notes anticipate no significant state or local-government fiscal implication and assume any implementation costs can be absorbed with existing resources. The later note addresses the Senate substitute that became law. Neither supplies a dollar estimate of savings for individual students, and the act makes no appropriation. April 9 fiscal note; April 16 substitute fiscal note.