Office of General Counsel

The Office of General Counsel includes the Enforcement Section and the General Counsel Section. The general counsel is the agency's principal legal advisor.

The Enforcement Section consists of staff attorneys and paralegals that are responsible for prosecuting individuals and companies charged with violating Commission rules and regulations. This section also works with the Office of the Attorney General on all lawsuits to which the Commission is a party.

The General Counsel Section advises the Commission on compliance with state and federal laws regarding contracts, open records, records retention, personnel matters, and ethics, and handles environmental legal issues related to the Commission's surface mining and oil and gas programs. The section includes the rules attorney, who is the agency liaison and certifying official for the Texas Register, and who reviews all rulemaking documents, open meetings agendas, and other documents filed for publication in the Texas Register.