SB904

SB904 changes hearing-instrument sales rules, removes an initial-license continuing-education exemption and broadens which physicians can provide the required statement for a sale to a minor. A licensed hearing-instrument fitter and dispenser still cannot sell to someone under 18 without a written statement presented by the prospective user or a parent or guardian. The statement must be signed by a licensed physician and say that the hearing loss was medically evaluated and the patient may be considered a hearing-instrument candidate. The physician no longer has to be an ear-disease specialist, but the act says a specialist should perform the evaluation whenever practicable. The unchanged subsection (b) still requires the evaluation to have occurred within the preceding six months. Final section 4; Retained timing requirement.

The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation loses the section 402.305 basis for renewing a noncompliant license merely because the person was first licensed during the 24 months before the reporting date. It retains discretion to renew when an attending physician documents a serious or disabling illness or physical disability that prevented compliance during that period. SB904 does not remove continuing education generally or make the medical exemption automatic. Section 3.

The Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation now makes each profession’s hearing-instrument sales rules with assistance from that profession’s own advisory board, rather than requiring both boards to assist in the cross-chapter rules. The Chapter 401 speech-language pathology/audiology provision and Chapter 402 fitter/dispenser provision each address their own chapter. Requirements for written purchase contracts, retained records, 30-day cancellation-trial guidelines and plain-language consumer information remain; the trial period was not newly created by this bill. Sections 1–2; Chapter 401 definitions; Chapter 402 definitions.

“Hearing instrument” here means a prescription hearing aid under the incorporated federal definition, not an over-the-counter hearing aid. The federal over-the-counter definition is for devices intended for people age 18 or older with perceived mild to moderate hearing impairment; SB904 does not change that definition. Signed June 20, 2025, the act took effect September 1, 2025. The amended minor-sale provision applies only to conduct on or after that date; earlier conduct is governed by the former law. State definition; Federal definitions in 21 CFR 800.30(b); Sections 5–6; History.