Section 312 IAC 2-3-6 - Conduct of a public hearing by a hearing officer; informal recommendations to the director or director's designee for an agency actionAuthority: IC 14-11-4-9
Affected: IC 4-21.5-3-5; IC 5-14-3-2; IC 14-11-3-1
Sec. 6.
(a) A public hearing under this section shall be conducted by a hearing officer appointed by the director or appointed by the director's designee under IC 14-11-3-1(c). The hearing officer shall be the director, the deputy director for the bureau in which the statute is administered, or an employee of the division that is primarily responsible for the administration of the statute.(b) The hearing officer shall announce at the opening and closing of the public hearing that a person is entitled to notification of an agency action on the license application (or other action at issue) if the person provides a written request for notification that does the following: (1) Describes the subject of the order with reasonable particularity.(2) Is delivered to the address of the department at least seven (7) days before the day that notice is given under IC 4-21.5-3-5. The address specified by the hearing officer under this subdivision shall be the address of either of the following: (B) The person who has been delegated authority by the director to act upon the license or other agency action.(c) The hearing officer shall conduct the public hearing under this section in a manner that is best suited to the solicitation of comments from the hearing participants. The public hearing is a nonevidentiary hearing, and neither the rules of evidence nor IC 4-21.5 apply.(d) A hearing officer shall maintain a record of any portion of the public hearing to assist in providing written recommendations to the director or the director's delegate. Any other person may cause an audio or video recording to be made of the public hearing. The contents of any recording may be offered into evidence at a subsequent proceeding under IC 4-21.5 and this article, subject to objections that may apply to electronic recordings generally. The contents of a recording do not, however, limit the scope of administrative review under IC 4-21.5 and this article.(e) Following the public hearing, the hearing officer shall make written recommendations to the director (or the director's designee) for an agency action. The director (or the director's designee) shall consider these recommendations. In taking an agency action, the director (or the director's designee) is not limited to facts and information received by the hearing officer under this rule.(f) The written recommendations under subsection (e) do not constitute an agency action under IC 4-21.5. A person who disagrees with those recommendations is not required to file objections in order to obtain administrative review of any resulting agency action.(g) The hearing officer shall not conduct a proceeding under IC 4-21.5 and 312 IAC 3-1 to provide administrative review of an agency action that results from a public hearing under this rule.(h) The documentation received under this section, and any recording of the public hearing made by the department, is a public record under IC 5-14-3-2.Natural Resources Commission; 312 IAC 2-3-6; filed Aug 20, 1997, 3:16 p.m.: 21 IR 28; readopted filed Oct 2, 2002, 9:10 a.m.: 26 IR 546; readopted filed Jul 21, 2008, 12:16 p.m.: 20080813-IR-312080052RFA; Readopted filed 5/20/2014, 9:48 a.m.: 20140618-IR-312140027RFAReadopted filed 5/20/2020, 9:55 a.m.: 20200617-IR-312200178RFA