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Texas Utilities Code - Section 102.006. Administrative Hearings In Contested Cases

Legal Research Home > Texas Laws > Utilities Code > Texas Utilities Code - Section 102.006. Administrative Hearings In Contested Cases

§ 102.006.  ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS IN CONTESTED 
CASES.  (a) The railroad commission by rule shall provide for 
administrative hearings in contested cases to be conducted by one 
or more members of the railroad commission, by railroad commission 
hearings examiners, or by the utility division of the State Office 
of Administrative Hearings.  The rules must provide for a railroad 
commission hearings examiner or the utility division of the State 
Office of Administrative Hearings to conduct each hearing in a 
contested case that is not conducted by one or more members of the 
railroad commission.  A hearing must be conducted in accordance 
with the rules and procedures adopted by the railroad commission.
	(b)  The railroad commission may delegate to a railroad 
commission hearings examiner or to the utility division of the 
State Office of Administrative Hearings the authority to make a 
final decision and to issue findings of fact, conclusions of law, 
and other necessary orders in a proceeding in which there is not a 
contested issue of fact or law.
	(c)  The railroad commission by rule shall define the 
procedures by which it delegates final decision-making authority 
under Subsection (b) to a railroad commission hearings examiner or 
to the utility division of the State Office of Administrative 
Hearings.
	(d)  For purposes of judicial review, the final decision of a 
railroad commission hearings examiner or an administrative law 
judge of the State Office of Administrative Hearings in a matter 
delegated under Subsection (b) has the same effect as a final 
decision of the railroad commission unless a member of the 
commission requests formal review of the decision.
	(e)  The State Office of Administrative Hearings shall 
charge the railroad commission a fixed annual rate for hearings 
conducted by the office under this section only if the legislature 
appropriates money for that purpose.  If the legislature does not 
appropriate money for the payment of a fixed annual rate under this 
section, the State Office of Administrative Hearings shall charge 
the railroad commission an hourly rate of not more than $90 per hour 
for hearings conducted by the office under this section.

Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1233, § 64, eff. Sept. 1, 
2001.  Amended by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 200, § 3, eff. Sept. 
1, 2003.

Last modified: August 11, 2007