Bill Text: TX SB693 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Relating to permit application and amendment hearings conducted by groundwater conservation districts and the State Office of Administrative Hearings.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2011-05-12 - Effective immediately [SB693 Detail]

Download: Texas-2011-SB693-Comm_Sub.html

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By: Estes S.B. No. 693
(In the Senate - Filed February 14, 2011; February 23, 2011,
read first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources;
March 31, 2011, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0; March 31, 2011,
sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 693 By: Estes

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to permit application and amendment hearings conducted by
groundwater conservation districts and the State Office of
Administrative Hearings.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsections (a) and (b), Section 36.406, Water
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) A hearing must be conducted by:
(1) a quorum of the board; [or]
(2) an individual to whom the board has delegated in
writing the responsibility to preside as a hearings examiner over
the hearing or matters related to the hearing; or
(3) the State Office of Administrative Hearings under
Section 36.416.
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (c) or Section 36.416,
the board president or the hearings examiner shall serve as the
presiding officer at the hearing.
SECTION 2. Section 36.416, Water Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 36.416. HEARINGS CONDUCTED BY STATE OFFICE OF
ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS; RULES. (a) If a district contracts with
the State Office of Administrative Hearings to conduct a hearing,
the hearing shall be conducted as provided by Subchapters C, D, and
F, Chapter 2001, Government Code. The district may adopt rules for
a hearing conducted under this section that are consistent with the
procedural rules of the State Office of Administrative Hearings.
(b) If requested by the applicant or other party to a
contested case, a district shall contract with the State Office of
Administrative Hearings to conduct the hearing. If the district
does not prescribe a deadline by rule, the applicant or other party
must request the hearing before the State Office of Administrative
Hearings not later than the 14th day before the date the evidentiary
hearing is scheduled to begin. The hearing must be held in Travis
County or at a location described by Section 36.403(c). The
district shall choose the location.
(c) The party requesting the hearing before the State Office
of Administrative Hearings shall pay all costs associated with the
contract for the hearing and shall deposit with the district an
amount sufficient to pay the contract amount before the hearing
begins. At the conclusion of the hearing, the district shall refund
any excess money to the paying party. All other costs may be
assessed as authorized by this chapter or district rules.
SECTION 3. Subchapter M, Chapter 36, Water Code, is amended
by adding Section 36.4165 to read as follows:
Sec. 36.4165. FINAL DECISION; CONTESTED CASE HEARINGS. In
a proceeding for a permit application or amendment in which a
district has contracted with the State Office of Administrative
Hearings for a contested case hearing, the board has the authority
to make a final decision on consideration of a proposal for decision
issued by an administrative law judge consistent with Section
2001.058, Government Code.
SECTION 4. The heading to Section 36.418, Water Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 36.418. RULES; CONTESTED CASE HEARINGS; APPLICABILITY
OF ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE ACT.
SECTION 5. Section 36.418, Water Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (c) to read as
follows:
(b) Except as provided by this section and Sections
[Section] 36.416 and 36.4165, Chapter 2001, Government Code, does
not apply to a hearing under this subchapter.
(c) The district shall adopt rules to:
(1) establish a procedure for preliminary and
evidentiary hearings;
(2) allow the presiding officer, at a preliminary
hearing by the district and before a referral of the case to the
State Office of Administrative Hearings, to determine a party's
right to participate in a hearing according to Section
36.415(b)(2); and
(3) set a deadline for a party to file a request to
refer a contested case to the State Office of Administrative
Hearings under Section 36.416.
SECTION 6. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a permit or permit amendment application determined to be
administratively complete on or after the effective date of this
Act. A permit or permit amendment application determined to be
administratively complete before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect at the time the application was
determined to be administratively complete, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2011.
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