Rules governing assisted living and senior care do not usually make headlines. For families, though, some of the changes taking effect or being implemented in Texas in 2026 address very practical concerns: What happens during a prolonged power outage? How do I know the person helping me find senior living is operating responsibly? Has a community checked the background of the people caring for residents?
Texas lawmakers and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission have recently addressed each of those areas. Some changes were passed during the 2025 legislative session and are now affecting how assisted living facilities and senior living referral agencies operate. Others involve new processes that facilities are beginning to use in 2026.
You do not need to know the language of the legislation to benefit from it. Here are five changes worth understanding if you have a parent or other family member living in senior care or are beginning to consider options in the Houston area.
1. Assisted Living Facilities Have New Emergency Preparedness Requirements
The change: Texas House Bill 3595
Hurricanes and extended power outages are not hypothetical concerns for Houston families. Anyone who lived through Hurricane Beryl in 2024 or previous Gulf Coast storms understands how quickly losing electricity and air conditioning can become a serious problem during a Texas summer.
House Bill 3595 addresses that concern specifically for assisted living facilities. The law requires facilities to have an emergency preparedness and contingency operations plan that addresses what will happen during a power outage. For residents who are not bedfast, facilities must provide a climate controlled area of refuge with at least 15 square feet per resident. Bedfast residents must have access to a climate controlled room. Those areas must be maintained between 68 and 82 degrees Fahrenheit. Facilities also must notify HHSC when an unplanned loss of electric service lasts more than 12 hours.
The law took effect September 1, 2025, and required assisted living facilities to adopt and implement their plans by January 1, 2026. It also directs the state to establish backup power and evacuation standards for certain new construction beginning after September 1, 2026.
What does this mean for families?
This gives families something much more specific to ask about when touring an assisted living community.
Instead of asking only, “Do you have a generator?” ask what the community actually does when power is lost for an extended period. Which portions of the building remain climate controlled? Where are residents moved? What happens to someone who cannot easily leave his or her room? How does the facility account for residents who rely on electrically powered medical equipment?
The law also gives residents and family members the ability to request a summary of the facility’s emergency preparedness and contingency operations plan.
For Houston families, I would consider that an especially useful document to request. Our weather makes emergency planning part of evaluating a community, not an afterthought.
2. Texas Now Regulates Senior Living Referral Agencies More Specifically
The change: Texas Senate Bill 1383
Families searching for assisted living often turn to a senior living referral or placement service because comparing dozens of communities on their own can become overwhelming. Senate Bill 1383 established specific requirements for companies providing those referrals in Texas.
Among other requirements, a referral agency must provide consumers with a written disclosure explaining its services, who pays the referral fee, the consumer’s ability to stop using the service without a penalty, and the fact that the communities presented may not represent every option in the area. Referral agencies must consider a consumer’s preferences and cannot use cost as the sole factor when deciding where to refer someone.
There are requirements behind the scenes as well. Agencies must maintain liability insurance, conduct certain criminal history checks for employees who interact directly with consumers, provide employee training and audit the licensing status of communities to which they make referrals. The law also prohibits knowingly referring someone to an unlicensed community that is not legally exempt from licensing.
Why should families care?
Transparency matters when someone is helping you make a decision as personal as where a parent will live.
One of the most important pieces of the new law is the required disclosure that a referral agency’s list may not include every community that could meet your needs. That is worth understanding. Referral services can make the search considerably more manageable, but families should know how the service works, how it is compensated and how potential communities are identified.
At Senior Living Specialists Houston, our service is free to families. The communities we work with pay a referral fee when a family chooses to move into one of them. Families should feel comfortable asking us, or any referral agency, how that relationship works and why particular communities are being suggested.
The new Texas requirements make that kind of transparency an explicit part of the referral process.
3. Texas Added Criminal Penalties for Operating Certain Care Services Without a Required License
The change: Texas House Bill 2510
Not every house or residential setting providing care to older adults is necessarily operating under the same type of license. That distinction can be confusing for families, particularly when smaller residential environments may look very different from traditional assisted living communities.
House Bill 2510 strengthens Texas law concerning people or businesses that are required to be licensed but operate without that license. It creates a Class A misdemeanor for operating an assisted living facility without the required license. A subsequent conviction can become a third degree felony. The legislation also applies criminal penalties when someone required to hold a home and community support services agency license provides personal assistance services to an assisted living resident without that required license.
The law took effect September 1, 2025.
What should families take from this?
Do not assume that a residential setting is licensed simply because it provides senior care.
That does not mean every small residential care setting is operating improperly. Texas licensing requirements depend on the services being provided and other circumstances. But families should understand what type of setting they are considering, whether it is required to hold a license, and, when a license is required, whether that license is current.
This is an area where asking a very simple question can be useful: “What license does this facility operate under?” A reputable provider should be able to explain its status clearly.
4. Facilities Are Using a New System to Screen for Reportable Employee Conduct
The change: HHSC Provider Letter 2026-10
Some regulatory changes are less visible to families but still affect the safeguards operating behind the scenes.
In 2026, Texas implemented the Search Engine for Multi-Agency Reportable Conduct, or SEMARC. Beginning August 3, 2026, assisted living facilities and other applicable providers began using SEMARC as part of required employability searches. The system gives authorized providers a way to search information across multiple Texas agencies for individuals with reportable conduct. Facilities still have separate responsibilities involving the Nurse Aide Registry.
HHSC subsequently revised its 2026 guidance to include a hold harmless period from August 3 through October 5, 2026 as providers transition to the system.
Why does an employment database matter to a family?
Most families will never interact with SEMARC directly, and that is probably how it should be. The important part is what the system is intended to help facilities do before and during someone’s employment.
Care is ultimately delivered by people. Regulations concerning buildings, emergency plans and licenses matter, but so does the process used to determine whether someone is eligible to work around residents.
When you tour a community, asking about staff screening, training and turnover can tell you more than simply asking how many employees work there. Families should not be expected to become experts in state employment databases, but it is reasonable to ask a community how it screens employees and maintains compliance with Texas requirements.
5. Employee Misconduct and Nurse Aide Checks Have Moved Into New Systems
The change: HHSC Provider Letter 2026-03
Earlier in 2026, HHSC also issued guidance concerning how long term care providers conduct required employability status checks.
Provider Letter 2026-03 addressed the transition of these searches to the Texas Unified Licensure Information Portal, commonly called TULIP, and provided instructions for Employee Misconduct Registry and Nurse Aide Registry searches. The guidance applied to assisted living facilities along with several other types of long term care providers.
Later developments involving SEMARC changed part of that process, which is why families may hear different system names when researching Texas employment screening requirements. As of August 2026, SEMARC is part of the current process for applicable providers, while Nurse Aide Registry checks remain separate.
What families should focus on
The name of the database is less important than the underlying responsibility. Facilities are expected to perform required checks to determine whether someone is eligible for employment in a setting serving older adults. For a family, the practical takeaway is simply that staff screening is a legitimate subject to bring up during the selection process.
Ask how prospective employees are screened before they begin working with residents. You can also ask whether those checks are repeated and how the community handles ongoing training and supervision.
These Changes Can Lead to Better Questions
When regulations change, families do not need to memorize statutes or walk into a senior living tour carrying a compliance checklist. What these changes can do is help you know what to ask.
After a Houston summer filled with heat or hurricane concerns, asking about backup power and climate control makes sense. When working with a senior living referral agency, understanding how that company is paid and whether its recommendations represent every available option is reasonable. When considering a smaller residential care environment, asking about licensing can help clarify exactly what type of care setting you are evaluating.
And wherever you are considering care, asking about employee screening and training is never out of place.
At Senior Living Specialists Houston, part of our role is helping families make sense of these details before they become overwhelmed by community lists, tours and unfamiliar terminology. Regulations will continue to change, but the goal for families remains much simpler: understand the care being offered, ask informed questions and choose from options that fit the needs of the person you are helping.
