1. (a) A person begins a contested case by filing an original and one copy of a petition with the executive director.

2. (b) Filing a document, including a petition, with the executive director must be made by:

   1. (1) sending the document by United States mail or by overnight delivery service to: Executive Director, Texas Department of Transportation, 125 East 11th Street, Austin, Texas 78701;
   2. (2) hand delivering the document to: Executive Director, Texas Department of Transportation, 125 East 11th Street, Austin, Texas; or
   3. (3) except as provided by subsection (e) of this section, faxing the document to: Executive Director, Texas Department of Transportation at (512) 305-9567.
3. (c) The time and date of filing the document is determined by the file stamp affixed by the office of the executive director, except as provided by subsection (e) of this section for a document filed by facsimile transmission.
4. (d) For a document other than a petition, only an original is required to be filed.

5. (e) This subsection applies only to filings made by facsimile transmission.

   1. (1) A document may not be filed by facsimile transmission if the document consists of more than 35 pages.
   2. (2) The quality of the document filed by facsimile transmission must be sufficiently clear to transmit legibly.
   3. (3) To be an effective filing, the first sheet of facsimile transmission must indicate the number of pages being transmitted and contain a telephone number to call if there are transmission problems.
   4. (4) If a document is filed by facsimile transmission, the sender shall maintain the original of the document with the original signature. The sender is not required to file an additional copy of the document by another means.
   5. (5) The time and date imprinted by the facsimile machine in the office of the executive director on the accompanying transaction report is the filing time and date, except if a document is received when the office of the executive director is closed, the filing time and date is the beginning of the next business day.

Source Note:The provisions of this §1.24 adopted to be effective November 18, 2010, 35 TexReg 10053.