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Board staff say Legislature s introduced budget includes Operation Nightingale funding; IT modernization and other exceptional items remain under review
Summary
Staff told the board the Legislative Budget Board included full replenishment for Operation Nightingale in the introduced budget; the agency also reduced its IT request after a vendor-space study, and staff described how those and other exceptional items could affect license renewal fees if not exempted.
Board staff updated members on the agency's Legislative Appropriations Request (LAR) and related budget developments for FY 2026 nd 2027.
Staff said the introduced Senate and House budget bills included full funding of the board's Operation Nightingale exceptional item and that a technical staffing error in the draft budget had been corrected. The board was told the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) analysts and the governor's staff had reviewed the LAR and that the board's first exceptional item for Operation Nightingale was incorporated in the introduced budget.
The board also discussed a multi-component IT modernization request (new website, a new enforcement system and a new education-proposal system) and said agency staff commissioned a vendor-space analysis (Gartner) and a DIR RFI that reduced the estimated cost of those projects by approximately $880,000 from prior estimates. The IT package remains an exceptional item in the LAR but with a lower dollar figure after that analysis.
Staff explained the mechanics that determine whether agency projects trigger fee increases. Because the board funds operations with renewal fees, a multi-million-dollar, one-time IT project could require fee adjustments unless the Legislature grants a fee-exemption for one-time costs. Staff said they will request an exemption for the one-time IT costs similar to recent exemptions for other agencies and noted the introduced budget's incorporation of Operation Nightingale funding makes a fee increase less likely for that item.
Other items in the LAR update included requests for two additional research positions at the Texas Center for Nursing Workforce Studies, and an administrative correction to reflect updated executive-pay group caps that affect the executive director's pay-authorization language in the bill (a technical conforming change rather than a cash request). Staff said the Health Professions Council's cost increase was entered as a conforming appropriation as well.
Board staff will testify before the Senate Finance Committee on Feb. 13 and planned to provide additional materials to members about timing and links to the hearing so members could watch the public hearing if they wished.
