(a) The executive director shall have primary responsibility to manage the operations and administration of the department and its programs as provided by Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 51 and other applicable law, including but not limited to:
  (1) issuing and renewing licenses;
  (2) resolving complaints;
  (3) conducting investigations and inspections;
  (4) imposing sanctions and administrative penalties for agreed orders and default orders; and
  (5) approving, administering, or providing for the administration of exams.
(b) The executive director may approve agreed orders and default orders in contested cases and shall have authority to issue other orders as provided by law or as delegated by the commission.
(c) The department may propose rules for publication in the Texas Register as delegated by the commission.
(d) The executive director may implement any executive orders or proclamations declaring a state of disaster issued by the governor under Texas Government Code, Chapter 418, to suspend or amend existing statutes and rules.
  (1) The executive director will notify the commission of the department's actions to comply with the governor's executive orders or proclamations.
  (2) The executive director and the department will implement the governor's executive orders or proclamations within the existing authority of Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 51, the rules in this chapter, and the laws and rules of the programs regulated by the commission and the department.
(e) For any license that expires during a state of disaster declared by the governor under Texas Government Code, Chapter 418, or the following recovery period, the executive director may issue to the license holder an emergency license under Texas Occupations Code §51.408. The executive director may implement policies as necessary to administer this subsection. The holder of an emergency license issued under this subsection is not required to post or display the emergency license.

Source Note: The provisions of this §60.22 adopted to be effective July 1, 2009, 34 TexReg 4326; amended to be effective September 1, 2021, 46 TexReg 5393; amended to be effective January 1, 2023, 47 TexReg 8627