Texas
Texas is, on paper, one of the easier states in the country to be epileptic in. Three months seizure-free to drive. No mandatory physician reporting. A Seizure Safe Schools law has been on the books since 2019.
(Special Note: My (Kelly) whole family is from Texas, so sending 🩷 to everyone there!)
Representation
John Cornyn, U.S. Senator (R-TX) | (202) 224-2934
Ted Cruz, U.S. Senator (R-TX) | (202) 224-5922 (😝)
Go Here To Find Your Congressional Representative
Driving Laws
For a Class C license with a 'P' restriction, the Texas Medical Advisory Board's guidance requires you to be seizure-free for three months. That's among the shortest waiting periods in the country, and it aligns with what the American Academy of Neurology recommends.
You'll need a medical form completed by your doctor covering your seizure history and how well controlled you are, and DPS may request periodic medical updates after licensing. Anyone with ongoing or uncontrolled seizures is prohibited from driving.
For a Class A or B license, the standard jumps hard: five years seizure-free while off anti-seizure medication.
Physicians in Texas are not required to report you. No provision requires doctors to report patients diagnosed with epilepsy to a central state agency. Reporting is on you — and if you have a seizure after you're licensed, you're expected to report it to DPS yourself.
Commercial interstate driving follows federal DOT standards, and people with epilepsy cannot obtain a state waiver (Tex. Transp. Code § 522.081).
School Laws
Texas passed Sam's Law (HB 684) in June 2019 — one of the first four states in the country to do it, alongside Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois.
Sam's Law requires all Texas public school personnel whose duties include regular contact with students to be trained in seizure recognition and seizure first aid. It was carried by Rep. Travis Clardy.
Note the wording: required, not permitted. That's a meaningfully stronger law than what several larger states have — California's version, for comparison, only allows schools to train volunteers.
If your school isn't complying, you have a state law to point at. Put the request in writing, ask which staff have completed training, and ask for the completion records. Then escalate to the district, and to Section 504 and IDEA if you have to.
Support
Epilepsy Foundation Texas, founded in 1983, serves Southeast, North, and West Texas — roughly 176 counties — with headquarters in Houston and regional offices in Dallas, Fort Worth, Amarillo, and Lubbock. Support groups, low-cost seizure clinics, medication assistance, summer camps, art therapy. In 2026, they're launching what they describe as the first mobile epilepsy clinic in the United States, taking free neurological care into underserved communities.
Epilepsy Foundation Central & South Texas, founded in 1993, covers 79 counties and roughly 160,000 people with epilepsy. Support groups; individual and family counseling (in person and online); seizure clinics; emergency medication assistance; the HOBSCOTCH memory program; helmets for people at high risk of head injury; and scholarships.
Epilepsy Care
If your seizures aren't controlled after 12 months with a general neurologist — or after two medications have failed — national guidelines say you should be at a Level 3 or Level 4 center. Most people who meet that bar were never told it existed.
Check out the NAEC to find a Level 3 or4 Epilepsy Center near you.
Texas has multiple confirmed NAEC Level 4 centers. The problem is, Texas is A VERY BIG STATE, and many individuals are likely out of reach of this critical care:
Texas Comprehensive Epilepsy Program, UTHealth Houston — Level 4
UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas — Level 4
South Texas Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, UT Health San Antonio — Level 4, NAEC member since 2008
Texas Tech Health El Paso with University Medical Center of El Paso — Level 4, newly accredited April 2026
Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston — Level 4, the first VA in the country to earn it
The El Paso accreditation is worth pausing on. Before it, Borderplex families needing intracranial monitoring or surgical evaluation traveled hundreds of miles. That gap existed for decades in a metro area of more than 800,000 people. It closed in April 2026. Ask yourself how many other metros are still in that position.
Use the comments section to add additional resources for Texas or review the resources listed above.