SB 2695 Texas Senate · 89th Legislature (2025)

Relating to an education program to enable certain students to practice medicine in certain rural counties and to physician delegation of certain medical acts to advanced practice registered nurses, including in certain rural counties.

SB 2695, the Texas Cure Act, creates the Rural Admission Medical Program (RAMP) to address healthcare shortages in rural Texas. It provides scholarships and summer stipends to undergraduate students from counties with populations under 25,000, guaranteeing them admission to participating medical schools. The bill also aims to expand physician delegation of certain medical tasks to advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) in rural areas. These provisions directly affect rural students pursuing medical careers and healthcare providers in underserved counties. The program is administered by a council of medical schools and focuses on increasing rural physician recruitment and retention.
Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Mar 2025
Committee Review
May 2025
Senate Passage
May 2025
House Passage
Governor
Introduced Mar 13, 2025 Last action May 26, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Engrossed · 10 edits · May 1, 2025
MAJOR
This bill was significantly rewritten to focus on an education program for rural medical students (RAMP) and to update rules for rural nurse delegation, removing previous content about advanced practice nurses practicing medicine in rural counties. The changes clarify eligibility criteria, add new definitions, and establish specific reporting and funding requirements for the new programs.
Scope change
The bill's scope shifted from enabling advanced practice nurses to practice medicine in rural counties to primarily establishing a Rural Admission Medical Program (RAMP) for undergraduate students and updating nurse delegation supervision rules.
SCOPE

Removed provisions allowing advanced practice registered nurses to practice medicine in certain rural counties and physician delegation of medical acts to them.

Added a new Rural Admission Medical Program (RAMP) to encourage students from rural counties (population under 25,000) to pursue medical education through scholarships, stipends, and guaranteed admission to participating medical schools.

ELIGIBILITY

Added specific eligibility criteria for RAMP participants, including residency requirements, minimum grade point averages, and county population size.

REQUIREMENT

Added requirements for participating medical schools to set aside at least 10% of enrollment capacity for RAMP students and to provide internship and mentoring programs.

Added a new Rural Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Delegation and Supervision Program requiring the Texas A&M University System Health Science Center College of Medicine to establish and administer a program for rural counties with populations of 30,000 or less.

Modified prescriptive authority agreement requirements to include specific chart review percentages and quality assurance plans for nurse delegation.

TIMELINE

Set the effective date of the Act to September 1, 2025, with rules to be adopted by February 1, 2026.

DEFINITION

Added new definitions for 'Participating student', 'Program', and 'Nontraditional students' within the RAMP context.

ENFORCEMENT

Added provisions for terminating student participation in RAMP if they fail to meet requirements without good cause, and for reporting program problems and expenditures to state officials.

FISCAL

Added provisions allowing the council to accept gifts, grants, or devises and permitting legislative appropriations for the RAMP program.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
38
Key actions
11
Committee
12
Amendments
3
May 23, 2025
Lower · Passed
Committee report sent to Calendars
lower
May 22, 2025
Lower · Passed
Committee report distributed
lower
May 20, 2025
Lower · Passed
Reported favorably w/o amendment(s)
lower
May 2, 2025
Committee
Referred to Higher Education
lower
May 2, 2025
Introduced
Read first time
lower
May 1, 2025
Introduced
Received from the Senate
lower
May 1, 2025
Upper · Passed
Passed
upper
May 1, 2025
Upper · Passed
Passed to engrossment as amended
upper
May 1, 2025
Upper · Passed
Amended
upper
May 1, 2025
Introduced
Amendment(s) offered
upper
Apr 28, 2025
Upper · Passed
Committee report printed and distributed
upper
Apr 28, 2025
Upper · Passed
Reported favorably as substituted
upper
Apr 24, 2025
Upper · Passed
Vote taken in committee
upper
Apr 23, 2025
Upper · Passed
Left pending in committee
upper
Apr 23, 2025
Upper · Passed
Testimony taken in committee
upper
Apr 15, 2025
Committee
Referred to Health & Human Services
upper
Apr 15, 2025
Committee
Rereferred to committee
upper
Apr 3, 2025
Committee
Referred to Education K-16
upper
Apr 3, 2025
Introduced
Read first time
upper
2 primary · 1 co-sponsor

Sponsors