Sec. 81.0025.  CONTINUING EDUCATION.  (a)  A county commissioner must successfully complete at least 16 hours of continuing education in the performance of the duties of county commissioners at least once in each 12-month period.
(b)  Continuing education instruction required by this section must be certified by an accredited public institution of higher education.  The instruction may be completed online with the approval of the commissioners court, except a county commissioner must complete the instruction in person in the first 12-month period of the commissioner's first term.
(c)  To satisfy the requirement of this section, a commissioner is entitled to carry forward from one 12-month period to the next not more than eight continuing education hours that the commissioner completes in excess of the required 16 hours.
(d)  For the purposes of removal under Subchapter B, Chapter 87, "incompetency" in the case of a county commissioner includes the failure to complete hours of continuing education in accordance with this section.
(e)  This section does not apply to a county commissioner who:
(1)  serves in a county with a population of 1.3 million or more;
(2)  meets at least one of the following requirements:
(A)  has served continuously for 12 years or more; or
(B)  is an attorney licensed to practice law in this state for 12 years or more and has completed at least 64 hours of continuing education approved by the County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas; and
(3)  attends at least 15 hours of staff briefing on continuing education subjects in each 12-month period as approved by the County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas.
(f)  In addition to the exceptions under Subsection (e), this section does not apply to a county commissioner who serves in a county with a population of 225,000 or more and who:
(1)  has served continuously for 12 years or more;  and
(2)  in the 12-month period, completes at least three semester credit hours of graduate-level course work in a field of study directly related to county government with a grade of B or higher in each course completed during the period.
Added by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 413, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1990.  Amended by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 111, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1992;  Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 294, Sec. 1, eff. Aug. 28, 1995;  Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1235, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1998;  Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 454, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 2004.
Amended by: 
Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 750 (H.B. 1879), Sec. 1, eff. June 17, 2015.
Acts 2021, 87th Leg., R.S., Ch. 144 (S.B. 230), Sec. 1, eff. May 26, 2021.