SB2443

New Occupations Code 51.207(d) permits the commission, by rule and notwithstanding other law, to provide for electronic delivery of any department correspondence. This expressly includes notices, orders and pleadings required under the Administrative Procedure Act, the department’s general statute or laws establishing its regulatory programs. It is rulemaking authority, not a declaration that every document is automatically electronic. Final law.

The law also narrows the people whom the commission may require to provide an email address under section 51.207(c): applicants and license holders remain, but the former category of other people who regularly receive department correspondence is removed. The email-address confidentiality protection remains. Final law; Prior section 51.207.

The repealed provisions required notice procedures using certified mail with an electronic return receipt for administrative-penalty proceedings and contested licensing cases. Their repeal changes the delivery requirements; it does not repeal the surrounding contested-case framework or the stated right to a State Office of Administrative Hearings hearing when the executive director proposes to deny, suspend or revoke a license. This briefing does not determine valid service or a response deadline in an individual case. Final law, section 2; Prior penalty procedure; Prior licensing-hearing procedure.

The introduced, Senate committee, Senate-passed, House committee and final operative texts matched; the official amendment index lists no amendments. All text versions; Amendment index; Final law.

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

The department gains flexibility to exchange documents electronically, while affected applicants and license holders may need to monitor the delivery methods established by agency rules. The fiscal note anticipates no significant state or local fiscal implication and assumes any savings would be insignificant. It does not quantify an individual’s costs or guarantee faster resolution of a case. No actual rule adoption, delivery-system rollout or realized savings is verified here. Only posted fiscal note; Final law.