86R7222 BRG-D
By: Patterson H.B. No. 2226
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to procedures for imposing certain administrative
penalties or disgorgement orders by the Public Utility Commission
of Texas.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 15.024(e) and (f), Utilities Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(e) If the person accepts the executive director's
determination and recommended penalty or fails to timely respond to
the notice, the commission by order shall approve the determination
and impose the recommended penalty or order a hearing on the
determination and the recommended penalty.
(f) If the person requests a hearing or the commission
orders a hearing under Subsection (e) [fails to timely respond to
the notice], the executive director shall set a hearing and give
notice of the hearing to the person. The parties to a proceeding
under this subchapter shall be limited to the person and the
commission, including the independent market monitor. The hearing
shall be held by an administrative law judge of the State Office of
Administrative Hearings. The administrative law judge shall make
findings of fact and conclusions of law and promptly issue to the
commission a proposal for a decision about the occurrence of the
violation and the amount of a proposed penalty. Based on the
findings of fact, conclusions of law, and proposal for a decision,
the commission by order may find that a violation has occurred and
impose a penalty or disgorgement order or may find that no violation
occurred.
SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
a person who receives notice under Section 15.024(b), Utilities
Code, on or after the effective date of this Act. A person who
receives notice before the effective date of this Act is governed by
the law in effect on the date the person received notice, and the
former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.