Sec. 404.104. AUTHORITY TO APPEAR OR INTERVENE. The public counsel:

(1) may appear or intervene, as a party or otherwise, as a matter of right before the commissioner, commissioner of insurance, division, or department on behalf of injured employees as a class in matters involving rules, agency policies, and forms affecting the workers' compensation system that the commissioner or the commissioner of insurance adopts or approves;

(2) may intervene as a matter of right or otherwise appear in a judicial proceeding involving or arising from an action taken by an administrative agency in a proceeding in which the public counsel previously appeared under the authority granted by this chapter;

(3) may appear or intervene, as a party or otherwise, as a matter of right on behalf of injured employees as a class in any proceeding in which the public counsel determines that the interests of injured employees as a class are in need of representation, except that the public counsel may not intervene in an enforcement or parens patriae proceeding brought by the attorney general; and

(4) may appear or intervene before the commissioner, commissioner of insurance, division, or department, as a party or otherwise, on behalf of injured employees as a class in a matter involving rates, rules, agency policies, or forms affecting injured employees as a class in any proceeding in which the public counsel determines that injured employees are in need of representation.

Added by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 265 (H.B. 7), Sec. 3.016, eff. September 1, 2005.