2026 NEC Changes: What's Law in Texas and North Dakota

The 2026 National Electrical Code is the code you are working under in Texas, where the TDLR rule took effect September 1, 2026, and in North Dakota, where the State Electrical Board's standards took effect July 1, 2026. Most of the 2026 NEC changes that land on a commercial or industrial job are old rules with new numbers. Here is what moved, and what to check before the inspector walks the job.

2026 NEC adoption by state: Texas, North Dakota and who else is enforcing it

The Texas rule is 16 TAC 73.100. TDLR adopts the 2026 NEC "as approved by the National Fire Protection Association, Inc. on September 9, 2025," and the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation voted it through July 28, 2026.

The rule contains no transition sentence. Neither 73.100 nor the Texas Register preamble mentions permits already filed or work in progress, and Occupations Code 1305.201(d) subjects work inside city limits to local ordinances.

Call the city. Ask which edition they are holding your permit to, and get it in writing.

North Dakota's version is an 88-page book of laws, rules and wiring standards, effective July 1, 2026. James Schmidt, executive director of the North Dakota State Electrical Board, says "the committee approved our proposals as submitted and became law July 1, 2026."

One trap. In late September the board's own Laws and Rules web page still carried scope text naming the 2023 edition, several paragraphs below the link to the 2026 book. Open the PDF.

NFPA's enforcement map, current to August 3, 2026, lists six states on the 2026 NEC. Massachusetts took it April 24, 2026 and Maine on July 1, both with state amendments; North Dakota and Wyoming on July 1; Colorado on August 1; Minnesota on August 17, where filings before that date stay on the 2023 NEC, its Department of Labor and Industry says. The map still counts Texas among the 20 states on 2023, because it predates the Texas date. Count Texas and it is seven as of this writing. NFPA's table already projects Oregon for October 1, so re-read the map, not this sentence, before you travel.

Travel changes the answer. Wisconsin moved the same September 1 Texas did, and only to the 2023 NEC, with its own amendments in SPS 316. Commercial work there had been on the 2017 edition since 2018, so crossing that line takes you back a code cycle. "Once again, Wisconsin will skip over one code cycle and leapfrog over the 2020 NEC and into the 2023 NEC," says Mark Cook, electrical education specialist at Faith Technologies, in June in The Daily Reporter. If you hold licenses in two states, check license reciprocity.

The 2026 NEC changes that moved your section numbers

The new numbers come first. "Article 220, Branch-Circuit, Feeder, and Service Load Calculations, was reorganized and moved to Chapter 1 as new Article 120," says Dean Austin, senior electrical specialist at NFPA. Article 750, energy management systems, became Article 130, and 750 turns up again in Chapter 7 for grounding and bonding of limited-energy systems.

Medium-voltage work got its own articles in Chapter 2. Over 1000 volts ac and 1500 volts dc, overcurrent protection is Article 245, branch circuits 265, feeders 266, outside branch circuits and feeders 267, services 268, grounding and bonding 270. The requirements did not move much. The citations did, so submittals written off the old numbers point at dead sections.

Limited-energy material consolidated into new Chapter 7 articles 720 through 723, 742 and 750. Chapter 8 lost those requirements and lost its independence with them. It no longer stands alone. Code-Making Panel 1 voted to end it, and Kyle Krueger, NECA's executive director of codes and standards, says the vote is "one of the most significant structural updates to the NEC in more than 50 years."

Dwelling feeder and service load dropped from 3 VA to 2 VA per square foot in 120.41, while 120.13 keeps 3 VA for branch circuits. Section 120.5(E) takes the 125 percent continuous-load multiplier out of the load calculation. It does not change how you size a conductor or breaker for a continuous load. Section 120.7 lets a listed power control system into the calculation, so a service need not cover loads that never run at once.

What changed on GFCI, arc-flash labels and working space

GFCI expansion is what most people expect in a new edition. "For the first time in more than 30 years, the GFCI requirements in this Section were not expanded in any significant way," says Ryan Jackson, an NEC instructor who sits on Code-Making Panels 3 and 17, in EC&M.

210.8(F) did change. The outdoor-outlet threshold at dwellings went from 50 amps to 60 amps, which catches the larger units and the heat pumps the 50-amp line used to miss, and a new Exception No. 3 allows special purpose GFCI protection on listed HVAC equipment, with a warning label on the equipment disconnect wherever you use it. An SPGFCI "does not open until a differential current of more than 20mA is present," Jackson says, against 6mA for a Class A device. High-frequency tolerant GFCI-HF devices "are now available," Jackson says, but GFCI-HF+ devices "will not be unless UL 943 is revised."

Texas took its one deviation right here. Section 73.100(b) adopts 210.8(F) Exception No. 2, the one for listed HVAC equipment, "without expiration." NFPA's own version of that exception expired September 1, 2026, the day the Texas rule took effect. NEMA opposed it. Compatible devices "are now being manufactured and are hitting the marketplace," NEMA says in comments to TDLR. TDLR answered that compatible GFCI outlets "are not yet widely available and thus have not yet alleviated the risk of outages," and kept the carve-out. So the same condenser gets wired one way in Texas and another where the sunset took effect.

By Krueger's reading in Electrical Contractor Magazine, the 110.16 label in other than dwelling units has to list nominal system voltage, arc flash boundary, available incident energy or minimum PPE level, and the date of the assessment. Neither Krueger nor NFPA's summary prints an ampere threshold, and the secondary write-ups that do disagree with each other. Read 110.16 in the 2026 book before you order labels.

Section 110.26(C)(2) is the one to walk your gear room with. Each end of the working space still needs an entrance 24 inches wide and 6 1/2 feet high, on equipment rated 1,200 amps or more and over 6 feet wide. "The 2026 NEC expands this provision to apply to service and feeder disconnecting means," Krueger says. The path "must be measured accounting for the doors to be opened to the 90-degree position," Krueger says, even where doors are removable or swing further. So take the tape in at layout, with the gear doors open.

2026 NEC exams and continuing education in Texas and North Dakota

TDLR's candidate bulletin says in capital letters that effective September 1, 2026 the Texas examinations "will be referenced to the 2026 NEC." The exam is open book, and you bring your own soft-bound copy. Texas continuing education stays at 4 hours a renewal, tied to the NEC as adopted.

North Dakota is stricter on hours. NDAC 24.1-04-01-01 requires eight CE hours to renew, at least half on the 2026 edition, and its CE page sets the course changeover at July 1, 2026. The board teaches its own changes class 16 times in eight cities, Fargo among them, and tells you to bring a 2026 code book, because it sells none at the door.

Exams there are still catching up. In the July 2026 newsletter Schmidt says the board "will be implementing the new tests early this fall." Ask before you schedule.

One more if you charge anything that moves. New Article 624 covers power transfer systems for electric self-propelled vehicles not built for on-road use, which reaches scissor lifts and forklifts. North Dakota repealed its own EV charging rule on July 1, 2026 to defer to Article 625. For this cycle NFPA counted 3,933 public inputs, down from the 4,006 submitted for the 2023 edition.

Rinvio staffs traveling electricians on W-2 and lists open electrical jobs online.

Sources

1. Adopted Rules, 16 TAC 73.100, Electricians (TRD-202603409, 51 TexReg 5776), including the preamble with the NEMA comment and TDLR's response quoted in the post, Texas Register, Texas Secretary of State, August 28, 2026 issue, filed August 12, 2026, effective September 1, 2026.
2. Proposed Rules, 16 TAC 73.100, Electricians (51 TexReg 1785), Texas Register, Texas Secretary of State, March 20, 2026.
3. Commission Meeting Agenda, July 28, 2026, Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation, July 28, 2026.
4. Commission Adopts Rules, TDLR News and Updates, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, September 1, 2026.
5. Texas Occupations Code 1305.101, General Powers and Duties, Texas.Public.Law, accessed September 27, 2026.
6. Texas Occupations Code 1305.201, Municipal or Regional Regulation, Texas.Public.Law, accessed September 27, 2026.
7. Electrician Exam Information, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, accessed September 27, 2026.
8. Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation Electrician Candidate Information Bulletin, PSI Services LLC, September 2026.
9. Electrician Continuing Education, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, accessed September 27, 2026.
10. Laws, Rules, Wiring and Conveyance Standards of North Dakota, NDAC Title 24.1, including 24.1-04-01-01, 24.1-04-01-02, 24.1-05-01-01 and 24.1-06-06-25, North Dakota State Electrical Board, effective July 1, 2026.
11. NDSEB Newsletter, Issue 286, with comments from executive director James Schmidt, North Dakota State Electrical Board, July 2026.
12. Continuing Education Approved Courses, North Dakota State Electrical Board, accessed September 27, 2026.
13. 2026 NDSEB CEU Classes Information & Registration, North Dakota State Electrical Board, accessed September 27, 2026.
14. Laws & Rules, the page whose stale scope text is described in the post, North Dakota State Electrical Board, accessed September 27, 2026.
15. NEC Enforcement Maps, state table current to August 3, 2026, National Fire Protection Association, accessed September 27, 2026.
16. What Changed in the 2026 NEC?, by Dean Austin, National Fire Protection Association, January 29, 2026.
17. Key Revisions to Chapter 2 of the 2026 NEC, by Ryan Jackson, EC&M, September 15, 2026.
18. Building the Foundation: Key changes to articles 90-130 of the 2026 NEC, by Kyle Krueger, Electrical Contractor Magazine, January 15, 2026.
19. NEC 2026 Significant Code Changes, by Thomas A. Domitrovich, used to corroborate the new Chapter 2 and Chapter 7 article numbers, IAEI Magazine, July 1, 2025.
20. Electrical codes and standards, Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, accessed September 27, 2026.
21. Wisconsin enacting new residential electrical codes in the fall, by Ethan Duran, quoting Mark Cook, The Daily Reporter, June 10, 2026.

Featured photo: U.S. Army photo by Trevor Welsh, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, via DVIDS (public domain)