Texas Register, Volume 37, Number 40, Pages 7815-8094, October 5, 2012 Page: 7,950
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The amendment is proposed under the authority of Parks and
Wildlife Code, 11.027, which authorizes the commission to by
rule establish and provide for the collection of a fee to cover costs
associated with the review of an application for a permit required
by the code, and 31.110, which requires the commission to es-
tablish a boater education deferral program by rule and allows
the commission to exempt from the boater education require-
ment a customer of a business engaged in testing, showing, or
demonstrating boats.
The proposed amendment affects Parks and Wildlife Code,
Chapters 11 and 31.
51.81. Mandatory Boater Education.
(a) - (g) (No change.)
(h) A person 18 years of age or older may obtain a one-time
deferral from the boater-education requirements of Parks and Wildlife
Code, 31.109, after paying the fee established in 53.50 of this title
(relating to Training and Certification Fees) to the department.
(1) A deferral under this subsection does not authorize any
person to supervise the operation of a vessel by any other person.
(2) A boater education deferral is valid for 15 consecutive
days beginning on the date of purchase and ending at midnight of the
15th day following purchase.
(i) A person engaged in showing, testing, or demonstrating
boats under Parks and Wildlife Code, 31.041(d), is exempt from the
boater education course requirement while showing, testing, or demon-
strating a boat.
This agency hereby certifies that the proposal has been reviewed
by legal counsel and found to be within the agency's legal author-
ity to adopt.
Filed with the Office of the Secretary of State on September 24,
2012.
TRD-201205046
Ann Bright
General Counsel
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Earliest possible date of adoption: November 4, 2012
For further information, please call: (512) 389-4775
SUBCHAPTER P. OFFICIAL CORPORATE
PARTNERS
31 TAC 51.701, 51.704
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department proposes amend-
ments to 51.701 and 51.704, concerning Official Corporate
Partners. House Bill 1300 (HB 1300), enacted by the 82nd
Texas Legislature, amended Parks and Wildlife Code, Chapter
11, by adding Subchapter J-1 to address the use of private
contributions, partnerships, licensing and commercial adver-
tising to provide additional funding for department programs,
projects, and sites. Parks and Wildlife Code, 11.225, as added
by HB 1300, requires the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission
(commission) to adopt rules to implement the provisions of
Subchapter J-1, including rules that establish guidelines or best
practices for official corporate partners.
Earlier this year, the commission adopted 31 TAC 51.700 -
51.704 to implement HB 1300. The rules went into effect in May2012. On July 24, 2012, in accordance with the rules, the de-
partment issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to solicit pro-
posals from commercial entities seeking to be designated as
department-wide official corporate partners (OCP-Ds). The de-
partment notified more than 3,000 companies and publicized the
issuance of the RFP through a press release and a number of
interviews with various media outlets. The deadline for response
to the RFP was August 30, 2012. In spite of the department's ef-
forts to generate interest, the department received no proposals
in response to the RFP.
However, the department continues to receive inquiries from
commercial entities wishing to engage in joint promotions or
other arrangements to provide much needed financial support
to the department. Such support may involve the licensing
of department brands or designation as an official corporate
sponsor. Current 51.701 requires that the OCP-D designation
be awarded through a competitive process. Similarly, current
51.704 requires that the opportunity to license department
brands be awarded through a competitive process. To enable
the department to take full advantage of potential opportunities,
the department proposes to amend 51.701 and 51.704 to
allow the department's executive director or designee to waive
the competitive process requirement for the designation of an
OCP-D and for the licensing of department brands when such
waiver is determined to be in the best interest of the department.
The proposed amendment to 51.701(a) would provide that "ex-
cept as otherwise provided" in the rules, OCP-Ds will be selected
through a fair and competitive process. The proposed amend-
ment goes on to authorize the department's executive director to
waive the competitive process requirement for designation of an
OCP-D if such a waiver is determined to be in the best interest of
the department. Although the department continues to believe
that the OCP-D designation should be reserved for companies
offering a significant financial benefit to the department, the re-
cent lack of responses to the department's RFP suggests that a
means other than a competitive RFP process may be a more ap-
propriate means of selecting an OCP-D in some circumstances.
The proposed amendment to 51.704(c) would provide that "ex-
cept as otherwise provided" in the rules, the department will use
a competitive process to award the licensing rights for one or
more department's brands. In addition, the proposed amend-
ment authorizes the department's executive director to waive the
competitive process requirement for awarding licensing rights.
Although the use of a competitive process may continue to be
an appropriate mechanism for awarding the right to license de-
partment brands in some circumstances, the amendment would
provide additional flexibility when the award of licensing rights
would be in the department's best interest.
Darcy Bontempo, Director of Marketing Services, has deter-
mined that for each of the first five years that the rules as
proposed are in effect, there will be fiscal implications to state
government as a result of enforcing or administering the rules.
Those implications are expected to be positive, since the pur-
pose of the rules is to enhance fundraising activities; however,
there is no historical data upon which to base an estimate.
There will be no fiscal implications for other units of state or local
government as a result of enforcing or administering the rules.
Ms. Bontempo also has determined that for each of the first
five years the rules as proposed are in effect, the public ben-
efit anticipated as a result of enforcing or administering the rules
as proposed will be the enhancement of the department's abil-37 TexReg 7950 October 5, 2012 Texas Register
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Texas. Secretary of State. Texas Register, Volume 37, Number 40, Pages 7815-8094, October 5, 2012, periodical, October 5, 2012; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth288982/m1/136/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.