81R3810 BEF-F
By: Brown of Brazos H.B. No. 998
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the hearing and final decision of certain occupational
licensing contested cases by a State Office of Administrative
Hearings administrative law judge.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 2001.054(a), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) The provisions of this chapter concerning contested
cases apply to the grant, denial, or renewal of a license that is
required to be preceded by notice and opportunity for hearing. The
denial, suspension, revocation, annulment, or refusal to renew an
occupational license or the imposition of an administrative penalty
or other sanction against an occupational license holder is
required to be preceded by notice and opportunity for hearing, and
the contested case hearing must be conducted in accordance with
Section 2001.058(f) by an administrative law judge employed by the
State Office of Administrative Hearings.
SECTION 2. Section 2001.058(f), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(f) This subsection applies only to a contested case
described by Section 2001.054(a) [A state agency by rule may
provide that, in a contested case before the agency] that concerns
licensing in relation to an occupational license and that is not
disposed of by stipulation, agreed settlement, or consent order.
Notwithstanding Subsection (e) or any other law, the administrative
law judge shall render the final decision in the contested case, and
[. If a state agency adopts such a rule,] the following provisions
apply [to contested cases covered by the rule]:
(1) the administrative law judge shall render the
decision that may become final under Section 2001.144 not later
than the 60th day after the latter of the date on which the hearing
is finally closed or the date by which the judge has ordered all
briefs, reply briefs, and other posthearing documents to be filed,
and the 60-day period may be extended only with the consent of all
parties, including the occupational licensing agency;
(2) the administrative law judge shall include in the
findings of fact and conclusions of law a determination whether the
license at issue is primarily a license to engage in an occupation
and a determination whether the case concerns an issue described by
Section 2001.054(a);
(3) the State Office of Administrative Hearings is the
state agency with which a motion for rehearing or a reply to a
motion for rehearing is filed under Section 2001.146 and is the
state agency that acts on the motion or extends a time period under
Section 2001.146;
(4) the State Office of Administrative Hearings is the
state agency responsible for sending a copy of the decision that may
become final under Section 2001.144 or an order ruling on a motion
for rehearing to the parties, including the occupational licensing
agency, in accordance with Section 2001.142; and
(5) the occupational licensing agency and any other
party to the contested case is entitled to obtain judicial review of
the final decision in accordance with this chapter.
SECTION 3. Section 2003.021, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (h) to read as follows:
(h) The office shall conduct all hearings and render the
final decision in contested cases under Chapter 2001 involving the
denial, suspension, revocation, annulment, or refusal to renew an
occupational license or the imposition of an administrative penalty
or other sanction against an occupational license holder, as
provided by Section 2001.054(a).
SECTION 4. The changes in law made by this Act do not apply
in relation to a matter described by Section 2001.054(a),
Government Code, as amended by this Act, if before the effective
date of this Act the state agency gave notice of its intended action
to the individual affected and the affected individual was entitled
to an opportunity for a hearing conducted under Chapter 2001,
Government Code, before the action could be taken. A matter
described by this section is governed by the law in effect on the
date the notice was given, and the former law is continued in effect
for that purpose.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.