Current through Reg. 50, No. 13; March 28, 2025
(a) Determination
by judge. All parties to a proceeding shall be determined at the preliminary
hearing or when the judge otherwise designates. To be admitted as a party, a
person must have a justiciable interest in the matter being considered and
must, unless the person is specifically named in the matter being considered,
appear at the preliminary hearing in person or by representative and seek to be
admitted as a party. After parties are designated, no person will be admitted
as a party except upon a finding that good cause and extenuating circumstances
exist and that the hearing in progress will not be unreasonably
delayed.
(b) Parties.
(1) The executive director is a mandatory
party to all commission proceedings concerning matters in which the executive
director bears the burden of proof, and in the following commission
proceedings:
(A) matters concerning Texas
Water Code (TWC), §11.036 and §11.041; TWC, Chapters 13, 35, 36, and
49 - 66; and Texas Local Government Code, Chapters 375 and 395;
(B) matters arising under Texas Government
Code, Chapter 2260 and Chapter 11, Subchapter D of this title (relating to
Resolution of Contract Claims); and
(C) matters under TWC, Chapter 26, Subchapter
I, and Chapter 334, Subchapters H and L of this title (relating to
Reimbursement Program and Overpayment Prevention).
(2) In addition to paragraph (1) of this
subsection, the executive director is always a party in contested case hearings
concerning permitting matters, pursuant to, and in accordance with, the
provisions of §
80.108 of this title (relating to
Executive Director Party Status in Permit Hearings).
(3) The public interest counsel of the
commission is a party to all commission proceedings.
(4) The applicant is a party in a hearing on
its application.
(5) Affected
persons shall be parties to hearings on permit applications, based upon the
standards set forth in §
55.203 of this title (relating to
Determination of Affected Person). Regardless of any other law, a state agency,
except a river authority, may not be a party to a hearing on an application
received by the commission on or after September 1, 2011 unless the state
agency is the applicant.
(6) The
parties to a contested enforcement case include:
(B) any other parties authorized by statute;
and
(C) in proceedings alleging a
violation of or failure to obtain an underground injection control or Texas
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, or a state permit for the same
discharge covered by a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
permit that has been assumed by the state under NPDES authorization, any other
party granted permissive intervention by the judge. In exercising discretion
whether to permit intervention, the judge shall consider whether the
intervention will unduly delay or prejudice the adjudication of the rights of
the original parties.
(7) The parties to a hearing upon a challenge
to commission rules include the person(s) challenging the rule and any other
parties authorized by statute.
(8)
The parties to a permit revocation action initiated by a person other than the
executive director shall include the respondent and the petitioner.
(9) The parties to a post-closure order
contested case are limited to:
(A) the
executive director;
(B) the
applicant(s); and
(C) the Public
Interest Counsel.
(c) Alignment of participants. Participants
(both party and non-party) may be aligned according to the nature of the
proceeding and their relationship to it. The judge may require participants of
an aligned class to select one or more persons to represent them in the
proceeding. Unless otherwise ordered by the judge, each group of aligned
participants shall be considered to be one party for the purposes of §
80.115 of this title (relating to
Rights of Parties) for all purposes except settlement.
(d) Effect of postponement. If a hearing is
postponed for any reason, any person already designated as a party retains
party status.
