House Bill No. 5265 aims to establish a Health Care Professional Education Fund within the Texas Education Code to support the production of health care professional degrees in response to workforce needs in the state. The bill amends Section 62.003(1) to include Subchapter J, which defines "eligible institution" and introduces the new fund. The fund will be administered by the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company and will provide a dedicated source of funding for general academic teaching institutions to increase their capacity to award health care professional degrees. The bill outlines the eligibility criteria for institutions to receive distributions from the fund, which includes being designated as a comprehensive university or similar and having awarded health care professional degrees in the previous fiscal year.

Additionally, the bill specifies the distribution of appropriated funds, allocating 95% to a permanent endowment for health care professional education and 5% to a startup fund for new or expanded health care degree programs. It also allows the comptroller to solicit gifts and grants for the fund and sets guidelines for how the allocated amounts can be used by eligible institutions. The act is set to take effect on September 1, 2026, contingent upon the approval of a related constitutional amendment by voters. If the amendment is not approved, the act will have no effect.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: Education Code 62.003 (Education Code 62)