Texas Administrative Code
Title 30 - ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Part 1 - TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Chapter 86 - SPECIAL PROVISIONS FOR CONTESTED CASE HEARINGS
Subchapter B - WATER RIGHTS ADJUDICATION
Section 86.18 - Final Determination and Appeal
Current through Reg. 50, No. 13; March 28, 2025
(a) Proposed final determination. When a majority of the commission has not heard the contest or read the record, the judge who presided at the contest hearing or one who has read the record shall prepare a proposal for final determination and shall send it by first-class mail to all persons on the commission's mailing list. The proposed final determination shall contain a statement of the reasons therefore and a statement of each finding of fact and conclusion of law stated separately necessary to support the proposed final determination. Any party adversely affected may file exceptions and present briefs to the commission concerning the proposal for final determination within the time limit stated in the notice of the proposal for final determination. The parties may waive compliance with this rule by written stipulation filed with the commission.
(b) Final determination. The adjudication hearings shall be closed at the conclusion of the last contest hearing. The commission will make a final determination of the claims to water rights in the adjudication within 60 days after the closing of the adjudication hearings, provided that where the case was not heard by the commission, the judge may set a reasonable time for the issuance of a final determination and shall announce such extension at the closing of the adjudication hearings. The commission shall send a copy of the final determination, and any modification thereof, by first-class mail to each person of record on the mailing list as required by Texas Water Code, § 11.315.
(c) Notice of final determination. The commission shall send a notice of the final determination by first-class mail to each claimant of water rights within the river basin in which the segment is located, to the extent that the claimants can be reasonably ascertained from the records of the commission, and to each other person on the commission's mailing list.
(d) Application for rehearing of final determination. An application for rehearing is the same as a motion for rehearing under the APA, and is a prerequisite to filing an exception to the final determination under Texas Water Code, §§ 11.318, et seq.