8. a. Within 20 working days following receipt of an application, the commissioner shall issue a notification to the applicant in writing regarding its completeness. The commissioner may declare the application to be complete for filing or may notify the applicant of specific deficiencies. The commissioner, within 15 days following the receipt of additional information to correct deficiencies, shall issue a notification to the applicant of the completeness of the amended application. The application shall not be considered to be filed until it has been declared complete by the commissioner.
b. The commissioner, within 15 days of declaring the application complete for filing, shall set a date for either a public hearing or a public comment period. The date for the public hearing or the start of the public comment period shall be set not later than 60 days after the application is declared complete for filing.