(a) THC shall issue antiquities permits for reconnaissance survey, intensive survey, monitoring, eligibility testing, exhumations, and emergencies to archeological staff at TxDOT under the following terms:
  (1) The archeological staff of TxDOT's Environmental Affairs Division, or its successor as established by TxDOT administration, oversees the work.
  (2) The work shall be completed in accordance with the provisions of the MOU.
  (3) THC shall not require TxDOT to submit an antiquities permit application.
(b) In lieu of a permit application, TxDOT archeological staff shall notify THC in writing (by email or letter) of:
  (1) the principal investigator;
  (2) the investigation type and scope of work;
  (3) the county in which the project will occur;
  (4) the project name or identifier (site trinomial, if applicable); and
  (5) the period of time for which the permit is desired.
(c) TxDOT staff may initiate work following notification of THC.
(d) THC shall issue a permit number within five business days of receiving the notification.
(e) TxDOT may revise the type of investigation based on observations made during the conduct of work as long as TxDOT provides to THC notification of the change prior to submission of the report.
(f) TxDOT may determine the appropriate amount of time a principal investigator will be in the field for a project based on the complexity of that project. TxDOT principal investigators will document their estimated proportion of field time on the corresponding reports of investigation.
(g) When conditions of natural disasters, man-made disasters, or post-review discovery necessitate immediate action, TxDOT may initiate work under an emergency permit without having first requested and received the permit number subject to the each of the following conditions.
  (1) TxDOT staff shall only conduct work under an emergency permit when archeological deposits are discovered during development or other construction projects or under conditions of natural or man-made disasters that necessitate immediate action to deal with the situation and findings.
  (2) TxDOT will provide notification to THC to obtain the permit number within five working days of initiating the work.
  (3) All categories of investigations can be authorized under an emergency permit, but an emergency permit will only be issued under emergency conditions where the investigations must be initiated or performed prior to notification under subsection (b) of this section.
(h) THC shall consider the work conducted under the permit completed upon receipt of:
  (1) one unbound report;
  (2) two tagged pdf format reports on an archival quality CD or DVD, one containing all maps and locational information and one with maps and locational information redacted;
  (3) a shape file of the project area subject to investigation; and
  (4) a completed abstract form.
(i) The number of defaulted permits accrued by particular TxDOT staff while working for TxDOT shall not affect the issuance of additional permits to other TxDOT staff by THC for TxDOT projects.
(j) The inspection of a project APE or proposed APE for purposes of evaluating the kind of archeological investigation that may be required (scoping) shall not constitute an activity that requires a permit from THC when that activity does not result in a report to be coordinated under the terms of the MOU.
(k) All types of archeological investigations conducted by TxDOT but not covered by this section shall require submission of an antiquities permit application and adhere to the terms of the permit and 13 TAC Chapter 26 (relating to Practice and Procedure) with the exception that any permit issued to TxDOT under this paragraph, including data recovery permits, shall not include a requirement for project-specific outreach to be completed as part of the scope of work. TxDOT shall conduct public outreach at a program level regarding its activities under this MOU as specified in §2.269 of this subchapter (regarding Public Outreach Regarding Archeological Sites and Cemeteries).

Source Note: The provisions of this §2.259 adopted to be effective August 15, 2018, 43 TexReg 5237