Declaratory Judgments Under the Texas Administrative Procedure and Texas Register Act: An Underutilized Weapon

Abstract

Section 12 of the Administrative Procedure and Texas Register Act permits a plaintiff to seek and obtain a judicial declaration as to either the validity or the applicability of a state administrative rule without first having to approach the agency. This article will probe the worthiness of section 12 as a tool for the litigant in challenging the application or threatened application of administrative rules by state agencies and suggest that practitioners are possibly overlooking a particularly efficacious method of protecting a client's best interests.