(a) Except as provided by § 552.3031, when this subchapter requires a request, notice, or other document to be submitted or otherwise given to a person within a specified period, the requirement is met in a timely fashion if the document is sent to the person by first class United States mail or common or contract carrier properly addressed with postage or handling charges prepaid and:
(1) it bears a post office cancellation mark or a receipt mark of a common or contract carrier indicating a time within that period; or
(2) the person required to submit or otherwise give the document furnishes satisfactory proof that it was deposited in the mail or with a common or contract carrier within that period.
(b) Except as provided by § 552.3031, when this subchapter requires an agency of this state to submit or otherwise give to the attorney general within a specified period a request, notice, or other writing, the requirement is met in a timely fashion if:
(1) the request, notice, or other writing is sent to the attorney general by interagency mail; and
(2) the agency provides evidence sufficient to establish that the request, notice, or other writing was deposited in the interagency mail within that period.