All Roll Calls
Yes: 551 • No: 87
TexasSB 215589th Legislature Regular SessionSenate
Relating to the regulation of veterinary professionals and facilities by the State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners and the temporary administration of the board by the Department of Licensing and Regulation.
Sponsored By: Keith Bell, Brad Buckley, Terry Canales, Lacey Hull, Stan Kitzman, Charles Perry (Republican)
Signed by Governor
AnimalsElectronic Information SystemsOccupational Regulation--Other Trades & ProfessionsOpen RecordsEMAIL & ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONSPUBLIC NOTICERECORDS MANAGEMENTVETERINARIANSVIDEOCONFERENCINGADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS, STATE OFFICE OFLICENSING & REGULATION, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OFVETERINARY MEDICAL EXAMINERS, STATE BOARD OF
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
10 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 2 costs, 5 mixed.
Pet owners can receive veterinary refunds
Beginning September 1, 2025, Texas veterinary regulators can order consumer refunds when they find grounds for license denial or discipline. Refunds can be part of a settlement, default order, or board order, alongside or instead of penalties. A refund cannot exceed what the consumer paid for the service or cover other damages. Complaints about price alone remain outside the board’s authority.
Regulators can halt unsafe veterinary operations
The board or its executive director can issue stop orders when needed to prevent violations of veterinary law, rules, or orders. In a public health or safety emergency, either can halt an unsafe facility or suspend or revoke a board-issued authorization. Emergency action can occur without advance notice or a hearing. If no hearing comes first, the board must set one within 17 days to affirm, change, or cancel the order.
Veterinary inspections focus on higher risks
The board can inspect covered facilities and business premises during reasonable business hours, copy relevant records, and discipline violations it finds. This authority covers regulated people and those suspected of violating or threatening to violate veterinary laws, rules, or orders. Inspections must prioritize risks, including past violations and concerns about controlled drugs. The board can use video or similar technology instead of an in-person inspection when it finds that appropriate. The board or its executive director can compel witness testimony under oath and relevant evidence during investigations.
Veterinary businesses must register and pay fees
The facility registration law takes effect September 1, 2026; implementing rules are due March 1, 2027. By September 1, 2027, veterinary businesses must register facilities, including those providing remote care, and pay a board-set fee. Each facility must name a medical director: a licensed veterinarian in good standing who regularly practices there or from there. The director must co-sign the application and accept board mail; a replacement is due within 30 days after departure. Federal facilities are exempt, and affiliated mobile units listed in an application need no separate registration. The board can exempt facilities when registration is not cost-effective or is unlikely to help consumers.
Veterinary facilities face standards and penalties
The board must set and enforce veterinary facility rules for cleanliness, safety, patient care, medicine storage, and controlled-drug security. Rules also cover record retention and compliance with state health and safety laws. Standards must fit each facility type, including mobile units not linked to another facility. Veterinary business owners and management services organizations can face penalties, license sanctions, or both for facility violations. Violations include missing registration, breaking operating rules, blocking inspections or investigations, and ignoring board orders.
Veterinarians get licensing and communication changes
With the governor’s approval, the board can make agreements with other states allowing veterinary licensing through reciprocity. License holders no longer face the requirement to report business-address or employer changes within 60 days. Board rules can require applicants and license holders to provide a confidential email address and allow electronic delivery of official papers. The board must also post website information directing licensed veterinarians to approved peer assistance programs.
Veterinary discipline adds deadlines and deferrals
The board can combine penalty and license-discipline cases and impose either consequence or both. Respondents have 20 days after receiving a violation notice to accept the determination and recommended penalty or request a hearing. The State Office of Administrative Hearings recommends findings and sanctions; after the order becomes final, respondents have 30 days to pay or seek court review. The board can defer discipline under conditions such as probation, but not reprimands or license denial, suspension, or revocation. Successful completion can lead to dismissal; deferred actions are generally public until successful completion and dismissal make them confidential like complaints.
Veterinary complaint rules change both sides
Complaint rules must separate complaint types, ensure review before dismissal, and notify the board of dismissals. Investigations must follow public risk, with priority for unlicensed practice. The board must dismiss baseless, unfounded, or outside-authority complaints; the former 180-day limit on baseless or unfounded dismissals is removed. The law removes requirements to let complainants explain allegations and to prescribe private-investigator procedures. New rules govern complaints needing no medical expertise, replacing staff committees’ prior dismissal or settlement authority subject to public board approval.
Veterinary expert reviews gain legal protections
The board can hire qualified experts for complaints needing medical knowledge. Experts generally cannot face damage suits or board discipline for this work, limiting legal claims against them. This protection does not cover fraud, conspiracy, or malice. A veterinarian board member who reviews a complaint cannot later deliberate or vote in its related discipline case. License holders must receive an expert review with reviewer names removed at least 14 days before an informal proceeding.
Veterinary records become easier to check
The board must provide online checks of veterinary license status and disciplinary information. It must update summaries of complaint numbers, types, and outcomes at least quarterly. Notices of alleged violations and discipline orders, including warnings and reprimands, are public. Complaint files generally remain confidential, with allowed sharing for investigations, enforcement, peer assistance, and research with identifying details removed. The board need not release specified materials before a violation notice and can temporarily withhold information to protect an investigation.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsors
Keith Bell
House
Brad Buckley
House
Terry Canales
House
Lacey Hull
House
Stan Kitzman
House
Charles Perry
Republican • Senate
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
Senate vote • 5/30/2025
Record vote
Yes: 29 • No: 2
House vote • 5/29/2025
Record vote
Yes: 108 • No: 28
House vote • 5/21/2025
Record vote
Yes: 113 • No: 26
House vote • 5/20/2025
Record vote
Yes: 129 • No: 13
House vote • 5/20/2025
Record vote
Yes: 126 • No: 16
Senate vote • 4/8/2025
Record vote
Yes: 0 • No: 0
Senate vote • 4/8/2025
Record vote
Yes: 28 • No: 2
House vote • Unknown
Committee vote: Agriculture & Livestock
Yes: 9 • No: 0
Senate vote • Unknown
Committee vote: Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs
Yes: 9 • No: 0
Actions Timeline
See remarks for effective date
6/20/2025HouseSigned by the Governor
6/20/2025HouseSent to the Governor
6/1/2025HouseSigned in the House
6/1/2025HouseSigned in the Senate
5/31/2025SenateReported enrolled
5/31/2025SenateSenate adopts conf. comm. report-reported
5/31/2025HouseRecord vote
5/30/2025SenateSenate adopts conference committee report
5/30/2025SenateHouse adopts conf. comm. report-reported
5/29/2025SenateStatement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
5/29/2025HouseRecord vote (RV#4049)
5/29/2025HouseHouse adopts conference committee report
5/29/2025HouseConf. Comm. Report distributed
5/27/2025HouseConference committee report filed
5/26/2025SenateHouse appoints conferees-reported
5/23/2025SenateHouse grants request for conf comm-reported
5/23/2025SenateHouse appoints conferees
5/23/2025HouseHouse grants request for conference committee
5/23/2025HouseSenate appoints conferees-reported
5/22/2025HouseSenate requests conference committee-reported
5/22/2025HouseSenate refuses to concur-reported
5/22/2025HouseSenate appoints conferees
5/22/2025SenateSenate requests conference committee
5/22/2025SenateSenate refuses to concur
5/22/2025Senate
Bill Text
Engrossed
Enrolled
House Committee Report
Introduced
Senate Committee Report
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