(a) Any interested person may petition for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of a rule to the commission's Executive Director.
(b) A petition under this section must be in writing and contain the following minimum requirements:
  (1) It must specify or otherwise make clear that the petition is made pursuant to the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act.
  (2) It must clearly state the body or substance of the rule requested for adoption, and, if appropriate, relate the requested rule to an adopted rule or rules of the commission.
  (3) It must contain the petitioner's full name, address, telephone number, and signature.
  (4) It must be signed by the petitioner with the date the petition is submitted.
  (5) It must include the chapter and subchapter in which, in the petitioner's opinion, the rule belongs, and the proposed rule text of a new rule or the text of the proposed rule change prepared in a manner to indicate the words to be added or deleted from the current text, if any.
  (6) It must include a statement of statutory or other authority under which the rule is to be promulgated; and a brief explanation of why the rule action is necessary or desirable.
  (7) The person or persons submitting a petition for rulemaking must state whether or not they are the following:
    (A) a resident of this state;
    (B) a business entity located in this state;
    (C) a governmental subdivision located in this state; or
    (D) a public or private organization located in this state that is not a state agency.
(c) The Executive Director or the Executive Director's designee shall evaluate the merits of the proposal.
(d) In accordance with the Government Code, §2001.021(c), the commission shall respond to the petitioner within 60 days of receipt of the petition. The response shall:
  (1) advise that rulemaking proceedings will be initiated; or,
  (2) deny the petition, stating the reasons for its denial.
(e) If rulemaking procedures are initiated under this section, the version of the rule which the commission staff proposes may differ from the version proposed by the petitioner.
(f) Adoption of this rule is required of state agencies by Texas Government Code, §2001.021(b).

Source Note: The provisions of this §11.19 adopted to be effective November 30, 2015, 40 TexReg 8640