Checked against primary sources 2026-08-24
Eighteen months is the line, and past it renewal is somebody else's decision
The annual term catches people who came from a state with a two or three year license. What comes after the term catches everyone else.
On this page
One year, on your own date
A license issued under this chapter is valid for one year from the date of issuance and must be renewed annually.
16 TAC 73.22(a)
From the date of issuance. Not a calendar year, and not a common renewal month for everybody.
The statute underneath says something different, and the difference is worth thirty seconds. Tex. Occ. Code 1305.167(a) sets the default expiry at 31 December, and Tex. Occ. Code 1305.167(b) lets the executive director adopt rules putting expiration dates throughout the year, prorating the fee when a date moves. The rule uses that authority. So your date is your own, and anybody quoting a December deadline is reading the statutory default rather than the rule that displaced it.
Continuing education attaches to every renewal rather than to every third one, which is the practical consequence of an annual term.
The department sends notice, and that does not matter
Non-receipt of a license renewal notice from the department does not exempt a person, or entity, from any requirements of this chapter.
16 TAC 73.23(a)
Two statutes require the notice. Tex. Occ. Code 51.401(f) sets it at not later than the thirtieth day before expiration, and Tex. Occ. Code 1305.167(c) says the same thing again for this program specifically. Then 16 TAC 73.23(a) removes any defense built on not getting it.
All three are true at once. They send it, twice over in statute, and it is still your responsibility.
As for the other end of the window, the rule sets a deadline rather than an opening. 16 TAC 73.23(b) has the complete renewal request and its fees in by the expiration date. Nothing in Chapter 73 says how early you may file, so file when the notice arrives rather than waiting to find out.
Four windows, and only the first two are ordinary
The windows are statutory, in Tex. Occ. Code 51.401, and the fee multipliers are in 16 TAC 60.83.
| How long expired | What is available | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| 90 days or less | Late renewal, as of right | One and a half times the renewal fee |
| More than 90 days, less than 18 months | Late renewal, as of right | Two times the renewal fee |
| At least 18 months, less than three years | Late renewal only on approval by the executive director, with documentation of the circumstances | Two times the renewal fee |
| Three years or more | No renewal at all. A new license, examination included | Application fee, plus the examination fee |
Row three is the one people misread in both directions. Tex. Occ. Code 51.401(d) opens with the words Except as provided by Subsection (c), and subsection (c) carries a second sentence that lets the executive director approve a renewal out to three years. So eighteen months is not an absolute wall. It is the point at which renewal stops being something you can do and becomes something the department decides, on documentation you have to write.
The other direction matters more. Do not plan around row three. A discretionary approval is not a schedule.
Past three years there is no carve-out left. Tex. Occ. Code 51.401(d) sends you to a new license by complying with the requirements and procedures, including the examination requirements, for an original license. That is the examination again, at whatever edition of the code is current when you sit it.
One accounting note that saves confusion at the payment screen: the late fee is paid instead of the ordinary renewal fee, not on top of it (16 TAC 60.83(d)).
The gap is the expensive part, not the fee
A journeyman renewal is thirty dollars, so even the doubled figure is a rounding error against a week of work. The cost that is not a rounding error is the stretch of days when you were not licensed.
A person shall not perform electrical work requiring a license under Title 8, Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 1305 with an expired license.
16 TAC 73.22(b)
That is flat, and it does not have a grace period in it. The ninety day and eighteen month windows are about what you may pay to get the license back. They say nothing about the work in between.
16 TAC 73.23(d) then names the gap directly: a license issued on late renewal leaves an unlicensed period between the old expiration and the new issuance, and licensed electrical work is not to be performed during it. Renewing late does not backdate anything.
If you have already worked in the gap, that is a question for someone who handles enforcement matters, and it is a better question to ask early than to answer later.
One route back without re-examination
Tex. Occ. Code 51.401(e) is narrow and real. A person who was licensed in Texas, moved to another state, and is currently licensed and has been in practice there for the two years preceding the date of application may obtain a new Texas license without reexamination.
The second sentence of that subsection is the part summaries drop: the fee is two times the normally required renewal fee.
Read the conditions strictly. Currently licensed, in practice, in the other state, for the two years immediately before you apply. A lapsed out-of-state license does not do it, and neither does two years that ended in 2023.
What this page cites
- Tex. Occ. Code 51.401 License expiration and renewal. The four windows, the multipliers, the notice duty at (f) and the out-of-state return route at (e). Read verbatim 24 August 2026. source
- 16 TAC 60.83 Late renewal fees, including the documentation condition on the eighteen month to three year window and the rule at (d) that the late fee replaces the renewal fee. source
- 16 TAC 73.22 One year term and annual renewal at (a), and the bar on working with an expired license at (b). source
- 16 TAC 73.23 Renewal, the deadline at (b), late renewal applications, and the unlicensed period at (d). source
- Tex. Occ. Code 1305.167 The statutory 31 December default at (a), the staggering authority at (b), and the thirty day notice at (c).