By Heflin                                             H.B. No. 2942
       74R6569 JRD-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to emergency rulemaking by state agencies.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 2001.034, Government Code, is amended by
    1-5  amending Subsections (a) and (c) and adding Subsection (e) to read
    1-6  as follows:
    1-7        (a)  A state agency may adopt an emergency rule without prior
    1-8  notice or hearing, or with an abbreviated notice and a hearing that
    1-9  it finds practicable, if the agency:
   1-10              (1)  finds that an imminent peril to the public health,
   1-11  safety, or welfare, or subject to Subsection (e), a requirement of
   1-12  state or federal law, requires adoption of a rule on fewer than 30
   1-13  days' notice; and
   1-14              (2)  states in writing the reasons for its finding
   1-15  under Subdivision (1).
   1-16        (c)  A rule adopted under this section may be effective for
   1-17  not longer than 120 days and may be renewed once for not longer
   1-18  than 60 days.  An identical rule may be adopted under the normal
   1-19  rulemaking procedures prescribed by this subchapter <Sections
   1-20  2001.023 and 2001.029>.  To be effective beyond the 120-day and
   1-21  60-day periods prescribed by this subsection, a rule must be
   1-22  adopted under the normal rulemaking procedures prescribed by this
   1-23  chapter, including a rule that a state agency is required to adopt
   1-24  under federal or state law or a rule the text of which the agency
    2-1  adopts by reference to the text of a federal or state law or a
    2-2  federal regulation.
    2-3        (e)  A state agency may adopt an emergency rule without prior
    2-4  notice or hearing, or with an abbreviated notice and a hearing that
    2-5  it finds practicable, because a requirement of state or federal law
    2-6  requires adoption of the rule on fewer than 30 days' notice only if
    2-7  the officers and employees of the agency:
    2-8              (1)  were not aware of the requirement in time to adopt
    2-9  the rule through the normal rulemaking procedures prescribed by
   2-10  this subchapter; and
   2-11              (2)  could not reasonably be expected to have foreseen
   2-12  the existence of the requirement in time to adopt the rule through
   2-13  the normal rulemaking procedures prescribed by this subchapter.
   2-14        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995. The
   2-15  change in law made by this Act applies only to an emergency rule
   2-16  adopted by a state agency on or after that date.
   2-17        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-18  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-19  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-20  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-21  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.