In October BHEC hosted an event, Insights During the Lunch Hour, during which Council member Tim Speer presented a diagram outlining BHEC's rule adoption process behind a proposed rule or rule change(s). Borrowing heavily from that, I have asked Phillip to convert the diagram into a text-based checklist for those of you partial to such things, and had him re-work the diagram to add some segmentation and color-coding. Many thanks (and apologies) to Tim Speer for his much appreciated efforts.

So, print this out and keep it in your "All Things BHEC" folder and you'll never again have to ask, "what's the next step?" so long as you know where you are in the process already. One less thing!

BHEC's Rule Adoption Process Checklist

Phase 1 - @Board
Step 1- Board discusses Proposed Rule
Step 2- Board votes on rule change
Step 3a-(No) Proposal Dies
Step 3b-(Yes)Add to BHEC Agenda

Phase 2 - @BHEC
Step 1- BHEC discusses Proposed Rule Change
Step 2- BHEC votes on rule change
Step 3a-(No) Return to Board for Revision
Step 3b-(Yes)Send to Governor's office for review

Phase 3 - @Governor
Step 1- Governor's office reviews rule
Step 2a-(No) Return to Board for revision
Step 2b-(Yes)Submit rule to Texas Register for public comment
Step 3- Competition impact review (if needed)

Phase 4 - @PublicComment
Step 1- Collect public comment
Step 2- Add to Board agenda

Phase 5 - @Board
Step 1- Board reviews public comment
Step 2- Board votes on adoption of Proposed Rule
Step 3a-(No) Proposal Dies
Step 3b- Make substantive revision(s); add to BHEC Agenda (Phase 2)
Step 3c-(Yes)Add to BHEC Agenda

Phase 6 - @BHEC
Step 1- BHEC discusses Proposed Rule and reviews public comment
Step 2- BHEC votes to adopt
Step 3a-(No) Return to Board for revision
Step 3b-(Yes)Send to Texas Register for adoption

BHEC's Rule Adoption Process Workflow Diagram

For those of us who prefer a working diagram, see below.

Summary

Getting a rule or proposed change through the Board is not as easy as it used to be and that's a very good thing. (Don't get me started!)

Now, the Board has to approve it, BHEC has to authorize it, the Governor's office has to make sure it doesn't conflict with existing law, and the public gets to weigh in on it as well. The addition of a 3rd-party, BHEC, to the mix is a very powerful improvement to the overall process.

That's 4 groups and a lot of eyeballs making sure that Joe Citizen's best interests are the focus of any rule on the books, or at least that's the idea.

Plan Smart. Be Safe. Serve Others.

Kathleen Mills, LPC-S, CEAP