1. (a) In accordance with Government Code, §2001.021, an interested person may petition for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of a rule of the commissioner.

2. (b) A petition under this section must be in writing and contain the following minimum requirements:

   1. (1) It must specify or otherwise make clear that the petition is made pursuant to the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act.
   2. (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. (3) It must contain the petitioner's full name, address, telephone number, and signature.
   4. (4) It must be signed by the petitioner with the date the petition is submitted.
   5. (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. (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.
3. (c) The commission staff shall evaluate the merits of the proposal.

4. (d) In accordance with the Government Code, §2001.021, the commission staff shall respond to the petitioner within 60 days of receipt of the petition. The response shall:

   1. (1) advise that rulemaking proceedings will be initiated; or,
   2. (2) deny the petition, stating the reasons for its denial.
5. (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.

Source Note:The provisions of this §2.48 adopted to be effective November 16, 2008, 33 TexReg 9078.