BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2189

By: Howard

Public Education

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, 224 of Texas' 254 counties are designated as health professional shortage areas, with 6,066,420 Texas residents living in such an area. In 2024, the governor charged the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) with creating the Healthcare Workforce Task Force to examine the state's growing healthcare workforce crisis, identify ways to expand healthcare education programs, and provide students with the tools necessary to succeed. One of the task force's recommendations published in its final report focused on aligning dual credit courses with the requirements for health profession-related certificate and degree programs and allowing for students to stack credentials and reduce duplication of effort. The task force also reported that healthcare-related simulation technology can dramatically enhance training programs for health professions, and the barriers to creating appropriate lab spaces and keeping those spaces full could be overcome by creating partnerships between institutions to share those spaces. Lastly, the task force found that many high school programs face significant costs when creating curriculum for career and technical education courses for health programs, as well as questions regarding the consistency across curricula, which could be addressed through greater availability of high-quality instructional materials for those courses.

C.S.H.B. 2189 seeks to address these recommendations by directing the Texas Education Agency, the THECB, and the Texas Workforce Commission, as applicable, to review health profession-related career and technology dual credit courses, study the feasibility of sharing certain lab resources between institutions, and make high-quality instructional materials for use in health profession-related career and technology education programs available at no cost to school districts.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2189 amends the Education Code to require the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to make available at no cost to public school districts high-quality instructional materials for use in health profession-related career and technology education programs offered by public schools. The instructional materials may include material designed to cover all state curriculum standards for a course offered through such a program or supplemental materials designed to complement, enrich, or extend a particular subject area included in such a program. These provisions apply beginning with the 2026-2027 school year.

C.S.H.B. 2189 requires the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), in collaboration with TEA, to study the feasibility of creating partnerships between public schools and public institutions of higher education to share educational laboratory resources for purposes of health profession-related career and technology education programs. The bill requires the study to identify current educational laboratory resources at such schools and institutions that may be used for the programs and examine methods of creating partnerships, incentives, or funding mechanisms where appropriate and effective to facilitate the sharing of educational laboratory resources for the programs. The bill requires the THECB, in collaboration with TEA, to submit to the legislature a report on the required study and any recommendations for legislative or other action not later than December 1, 2026. These bill provisions expire September 1, 2027.

C.S.H.B. 2189 amends the Government Code to require TEA, the THECB, and the Texas Workforce Commission to take the following actions:

· jointly review the curriculum of courses in health profession-related career and technology education programs that are offered for joint high school and college credit at Texas public schools to ensure that those programs:

o align with requirements for health profession-related certificate and degree programs at institutions of higher education; and

o allow for the stacking of credentials to reduce duplication of effort;

· consult with both academic and practicing health care professionals in conducting the review; and

· not later than December 1, 2026, jointly submit to the legislature a report on the review that includes a description of actions taken by those agencies to accomplish the review's purposes as described by the bill and any recommendations for legislative or other action.

These bill provisions expire September 1, 2027.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2025.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 2189 may differ from the introduced in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

Whereas the introduced required TEA, in coordination with the THECB, to study the feasibility of creating partnerships between public schools and institutions of higher education to share educational laboratory resources for purposes of health profession-related career and technology education programs, the substitute requires the THECB, in collaboration with TEA, to conduct such a study. The substitute accordingly requires the THECB, in collaboration with TEA, to submit the report on the study required by the bill, whereas the introduced required TEA, in coordination with the THECB, to submit the report. The substitute omits the introduced version's provision defining "institution of higher education."