(a) Except as provided by Section 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 Section 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.