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(a)The Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) shall conduct a protest hearing in a manner insuring fairness, the reliability of evidence, and the timely completion of the hearing. The ALJ shall have the authority necessary to receive and consider all evidence and propose decisions. The ALJ's authority includes, but is not limited to, the following: (1)establish the comptroller's jurisdiction concerning the protest, including whether a timely protest has been filed or whether an extension of time should be granted; (2)set hearing dates; (3)rule on motions and the admissibility of evidence; (4)designate parties and establish the order of presentation of evidence, except that the Property Tax Division, which is the party with the burden of proof, shall always have the right to present its evidence and argument on any issue prior to the parties protesting that issue; (5)consolidate related protests; (6)conduct a single hearing that provides for: (A)participation by the affected district(s), appraisal district, and any property owner that has filed a valid and timely petition, if the hearing concerns preliminary findings of taxable value or the degree of uniformity and median level of appraisal; or (B)participation by the affected district(s) and the commissioner of education, if the hearing concerns the preliminary findings of an audit of a district's taxable property value. (7)conduct hearings in an orderly manner and expel from any proceeding any individuals who, after an appropriate warning, fail to comport themselves in a manner befitting the proceeding and continue with the proceeding, hear evidence, and render a decision on the protest; (8)administer oaths to all persons presenting testimony; (9)examine witnesses and comment on the evidence; (10)insure that evidence, argument, and testimony are introduced and presented expeditiously; (11)refuse to hear arguments that are repetitious, not confined to matters raised in the petition, not related to the evidence or that constitute mere personal criticism; (12)accept and note any petitioner's waiver of any right granted by this rule; (13)limit each hearing to two hours for presentation of evidence and argument or extend the two-hour time limit in the interest of a full and fair hearing; and (14)exercise any other powers necessary or convenient to carry out the ALJ's responsibilities and to insure timely certification of changes in preliminary findings to the commissioner of education. (b)The ALJ may take official notice of any matter that trial judges may judicially notice. Petitioners in a protest in which official notice is taken shall have an opportunity to contest the matter. (c)The ALJ may entertain motions for dismissal at any time for any of the following reasons: (1)failure to prosecute; (2)unnecessary duplication of proceedings or res judicata; (3)withdrawal of protest; (4)moot questions or obsolete petition; (5)failure to certify that notice of protest was filed as required by §9.4307 of this title (relating to Filing a Protest), or failure to actually file notice as required by §9.4307 of this title; (6)an appraisal district's protest would result in an increase to a school district's preliminary findings of total taxable value; or (7)the comptroller has certified amended preliminary findings as allowed by §9.4307 of this title. (d)The ALJ may grant a request to postpone a protest hearing if good cause is shown and doing so would not prevent timely certification of changes in the preliminary findings to the commissioner of education. A request to postpone must be in writing, show good cause for the postponement, and be delivered five days before the date the protest hearing is scheduled to begin. Good cause does not include a claim that the time periods established in this rule are too short to meet the deadline. If requested in writing by the petitioner and for good cause shown, the ALJ may waive the requirement that the request for postponement be made five days in advance of the deadline. (e)The ALJ shall determine the admissibility of the evidence. Any party may object to the admission of evidence and the objection will be ruled on and noted on the record. The ALJ may exclude irrelevant, immaterial, or unduly repetitious evidence. The ALJ may receive any part of the evidence in writing. (f)The ALJ in a protest may not communicate outside a protest hearing, directly or indirectly, with any agency, person, petitioner or petitioner's agent regarding any issue of fact or law relating to the protest unless all parties in the protest have notice and opportunity to participate.
This agency hereby certifies that the proposal has
been reviewed by legal counsel and found to be within the agency's
legal authority to adopt.
Filed with
the Office
of the Secretary of State on November 3, 2008
TRD-200805781 Ashley Harden
Chief Deputy General Counsel
Comptroller of Public Accounts
Earliest possible date of adoption: December 14, 2008
For further information, please call: (512) 475-0387
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