Rules

The rules adopted by the Railroad Commission are part of a larger body of state agency rules known as the Texas Administrative Code (TAC). These rules are collected and published by the Office of the Secretary of State. The Commission may adopt new rules or amendments to existing rules.

Statutes vs. Rules

• Statutes are created or amended by the Legislature.  You can be view the full set of statutes for the State of Texas at www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us.  A helpful guide for reading bills and statutes has been created by the Legislative Council.
• Rules are adopted by state agencies (Executive branch), usually with specific rulemaking authority from the Legislature.  To learn more about the state rulemaking process, see the Secretary of State’s website at www.sos.state.tx.us/txreg/index.shtml.

At RRC the Office of General Counsel oversees rulemaking activities.  For more information, see the main RRC rules page.