1. (a) The other party shall respond to the appellant's request. The response shall:

   1. (1) be in writing;
   2. (2) clearly and concisely support each issue in the hearing officer's decision that the appellant has rebutted in the request, and state why the appellant's relief should not be granted;
   3. (3) be filed with the Chief Clerk of Proceedings in the commission's central office in Austin not later than the 15th day after the request was received by the respondent. Responses that are timely submitted to a commission location other than the Chief Clerk of Proceedings, such as a local field office of the commission, will be considered filed timely and forwarded to the commission's appeals panel for consideration, but this may result in delay in the processing of the response. Untimely responses, regardless of whether they are filed with the Chief Clerk of Proceedings or in a different commission office, will not be reviewed by the appeals panel;
   4. (4) be served on the appellant on the same day filed with the commission; and
   5. (5) contain a statement certifying that a copy has been served on the other party or parties in person, mailed by certified mail, return receipt requested, or transmitted by verifiable means. A certificate in substantially the following form shall be used: "I hereby certify that I have on this ____ day of ____________, _____ , served a copy of the attached response to a request for appeal on _______________________________ (state the name of the other party or parties on whom a copy was served) by _______________________________ (state the manner of service)." _______________________________ Signature
2. (b) If it is not clear from the response that the party has properly served a copy of the response on the other party or parties, the hearings division shall attempt to contact the other party or parties and, if the contact indicates that the other party or parties have not received a copy of the response, provide a copy of the response expeditiously.

3. (c) A response made under this section shall be presumed to be timely filed or timely served if it is:

   1. (1) mailed on or before the 15th day after the date of receipt of the appellant's request, as provided in subsection (a) of this section; and
   2. (2) received by the commission or other party not later than the 20th day after the date of receipt of the appellant's request.
4. (d) Saturdays and Sundays and holidays listed in Section 662.003, Government Code, are not included in the computation of the time in which a response must be filed.

Source Note:The provisions of this §143.4 adopted to be effective March 7, 1991, 16 TexReg 1195; amended to be effective March 31, 1992, 17 TexReg 2009; amended to be effective March 14, 2001, 26 TexReg 2032; amended to be effective May 9, 2004, 29 TexReg 4223.