1. (a) Petition for Rulemaking. Any interested person, as defined by the APA, may petition the commission requesting the adoption of a new rule or the amendment of an existing rule.

   1. (1) The petition must be in writing and must be submitted to the project opened under paragraph (2) of this subsection. The petition must include a brief explanation of the rule, each reason the new or amended rule should be adopted, the statutory authority for such a rule or amendment, and complete proposed text for the rule. The proposed text for the rule must indicate by striking through the words, if any, to be deleted from the current rule and by underlining the words, if any, to be added to the current rule. Any recommendation or request that the commission adopt a new rule or amend or repeal an existing rule that does not comply with the requirements of this section, including any recommendation or request made in a contested case proceeding (e.g., an argument by a party to a contested case that the commission should conduct a rulemaking related to a contested issue), will be construed as a policy recommendation and will not be processed as a petition for rulemaking under the APA and this section.
   2. (2) Each calendar year, commission staff will open a general project for petitions for rulemaking and post the control number on the commission's website.
   3. (3) Commission staff may file a memo in the general project opened under paragraph (2) of this subsection establishing a deadline for interested persons to file comments in response to the petition for rulemaking or designating a new control number for the submission of comments. Commission staff may relocate any relevant filings from the general control number to the new project. If commission staff does not file a memo under this paragraph, comments on a petition for rulemaking may be filed in the general project and the deadline for submitting comments on the petition is 21 days after the date the petition is filed.
   4. (4) Within 60 days after submission of a petition that fully complies with the requirements of paragraph (1) of this subsection, the commission will either deny the petition in writing, stating its reasons for the denial, or initiate a rulemaking proceeding.
2. (b) Commission Initiated Rulemaking. The commission may initiate rulemaking proceedings on its own motion. Nothing in this section precludes commission staff from consideration or development of new rules or amendments to existing rules, including hosting workshops or publishing questions or draft rules language for comment, without express direction from the commission.

Source Note:The provisions of this §22.281 adopted to be effective November 1, 1993, 18 TexReg 6668; amended to be effective May 7, 1998, 23 TexReg 4253; amended to be effective March 26, 2001, 26 TexReg 2351; amended to be effective April 2, 2026, 51 TexReg 2025.