(a) Any application that is declared administratively complete
on or after September 1, 1999 is subject to this section.
(b) The scope of permissible discovery in contested case hearings
is limited to:
(1) any matter reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery
of admissible evidence regarding any issue referred to the administrative
law judge by the commission or that the administrative law judge has agreed
to consider; and
(2) production of documents:
(A) reviewed or relied on in preparing application materials
or selecting the site of the proposed facility; or
(B) relating to the ownership of the applicant or of the owner
or operator of the facility or proposed facility.
(c) The level of discovery for all contested case hearings
shall be Level 3 under Texas Rules of Civil Procedure (TRCP) 190.4. However,
the administrative law judge shall set an appropriate limit on the time for
depositions and the number of interrogatories, provided that the total time
per side for oral depositions may not exceed 50 hours and the total number
of written interrogatories that any party may serve on any other party may
not exceed 25. If one side designates more than two experts, the opposing
side may have an additional six hours of total deposition time for each additional
expert designated.
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