| (a) Scope. This section is intended to address proceedings
related to retail public utilities, including applications related
to certificates of convenience and necessity, rate proceedings, or
appeals of rate actions.
(b) Definitions. The following words and terms, when
used in this section, shall have the following meanings unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise:
(1) 30 TAC Chapter 80--Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality (TCEQ) rules relating to Contested Case Hearings, as the rules
existed on August 31, 2014.
(2) Retail public utility--A retail public utility
as defined in Texas Water Code §13.002.
(c) Transfer of proceedings.
(1) On September 1, 2014, proceedings related to a
retail public utility's certificate of convenience and necessity or
rates shall be transferred to the commission in accordance with law.
(2) The procedural rules of the commission shall be
used in every retail public utility proceeding transferred to the
commission as soon as practicable or as established by this section.
(3) The presiding officer shall have authority to determine
in accordance with this section whether the commission's procedural
rules, the TCEQ's procedural rules as continued in force by this section,
or any combination of those agencies' rules shall apply in each retail
public utility proceeding transferred to the commission.
(d) Specific procedures in transferred case. Every
retail public utility proceeding transferred to the commission on
September 1, 2014 shall be subject to this chapter as follows:
(1) If a preliminary hearing has not been held and
a scheduling order has not been issued in a proceeding transferred
to the commission, then this chapter shall govern all aspects of the
proceeding that have not been completed.
(2) If a preliminary hearing has been held and a scheduling
order has issued, but a hearing on the merits has not been held, then
the presiding officer shall convene a prehearing conference to address
and establish the following matters:
(A) whether 30 TAC Chapter 80 or this chapter shall
govern discovery;
(B) whether the procedural schedule should be modified
or the proceeding abated, or both, to allow a reasonable time for
the staff of the commission to prepare and file testimony or to modify
or adopt the testimony previously filed by the TCEQ;
(C) to discuss the filing requirements of the commission
under this chapter; and
(D) to reconcile any other matters that may arise as
a result of the transfer of the proceeding to the commission.
(3) If a hearing on the merits has been completed,
but a proposal for decision has not been delivered, the proposal for
decision shall be delivered to the commission and this chapter shall
govern the remainder of the proceeding.
(4) If a proposal for decision has been issued, but
the matter has not been decided, then:
(A) the administrative and hearing record shall be
transferred to the commission as expeditiously as possible;
(B) if dates have not been set for exceptions and replies
to exception to the proposal for decision, those dates shall be set
and the parties notified of the dates; and
(C) the matter shall be scheduled for an open meeting
before the commission.
(e) Motions for rehearing. Motions for rehearing for
every proceeding transferred to the commission shall be governed by
this chapter.
(f) Proceedings initiated after September 1, 2014.
Every retail public utility proceeding initiated at the commission
after September 1, 2014 shall be governed by this chapter and by Chapter
24 of this title (relating to Substantive Rules Applicable to Water
and Sewer Service Providers).
(g) Continuation of TCEQ rules. The rules of the TCEQ
related to the duties transferred to the commission regarding water
and sewer utilities continue as rules of the commission until amended
or replaced by this commission. This section is a replacement of those
procedural rules, provided however, that the procedural rules of the
TCEQ are continued for proceedings transferred to the commission to
the extent not inconsistent with this section.
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