- (a) Hearing on petition. The executive administrator shall hold at least one hearing to receive evidence and take testimony on the petition from the petitioner and the districts.
- (b) Location of hearing. Any hearing shall be conducted at a central location in the groundwater management area.
- (c) Notice of the hearing. The notice of hearing shall be published in the Texas Register and shall be provided to the petitioners, the districts, any districts adjacent to the groundwater management area, any regional water planning group in the groundwater management area, and the county judge for each county in the groundwater management area at least two weeks before the hearing.
- (d) Form of hearing. A hearing under this subchapter is not a contested case hearing. The Texas Rules of Evidence, Rules of Civil Procedure, and the rules promulgated by the State Office for Administrative Hearings related to contested case hearings will not apply to this hearing. Testimony will be under oath.
(e) Hearing procedure. The executive administrator may issue any directives necessary to ensure an orderly, fair, and efficient hearing. The hearing to receive evidence and take testimony from the petitioner and districts shall be conducted by the executive administrator and shall proceed as follows:
- (1) The executive administrator shall provide a concise statement relating to the scope and purpose of the hearing and shall proceed to take testimony and accept evidence.
- (2) The petitioner and the districts shall be provided an equal amount of time to present testimony and evidence. The petitioner carries the burden of persuasion and may reserve time for rebuttal.
- (f) Statements and information from other interested persons. The executive administrator shall provide other persons with a legally-defined interest in the issues raised in the petition the opportunity to provide statements and information in any form acceptable to the executive administrator after the hearing concludes. The executive administrator shall keep the record of the hearing open for 15 days following the end of the hearing for receipt of statements and information from other interested persons. Such statements and information will be made available to the TWDB board members when they consider the petition, but will not be considered part of the evidentiary record.
- (g) The executive administrator has the discretion to adopt different or additional procedures at the hearing upon the joint request of the petitioner and the districts or on the executive administrator's own initiative.
Source Note:The provisions of this §356.42 adopted to be effective December 31, 2012, 37 TexReg 10238.