Texas Water Code - WATER § 7.0025. Initiation of Enforcement Action Using Information Provided by Private Individual

(a) The commission may initiate an enforcement action on a matter under its jurisdiction under this code or the Health and Safety Code based on information it receives from a private individual if that information, in the commission's judgment, is of sufficient value and credibility to warrant the initiation of an enforcement action.

(b) The executive director or the executive director's designated representative may evaluate the value and credibility of information received from a private individual and the merits of any proposed enforcement action based on that information.

(c) The commission by rule may adopt criteria for the executive director to use in evaluating the value and credibility of information received from a private individual and for use of that information in an enforcement action.

(d) A private individual who submits information on which the commission relies for all or part of an enforcement case may be called to testify in the enforcement proceedings and is subject to all sanctions under law for knowingly falsifying evidence.  If the commission relies on the information submitted by a private individual to prove an enforcement case, any physical or sampling data must have been collected or gathered in accordance with commission protocols.