PERMANENT RULES
Effective Date of Rule: January 1, 2009.
Purpose: This rule outlines the notice of hearing timeline and the requirements for any extensions. In some circumstances, the current version of the rule provides a shorter timeline than what the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) requires. RCW 34.05.419, APA, requires, in part, for the agency to commence an adjudicative proceeding after receipt of the application for an adjudicative proceeding. During the rules simplification project, we rewrote this rule to clarify that we must issue a notice of hearing within ninety days of the request/application for a hearing or get an extension. The extension must be in writing and made a part of the permanent record of the proceeding. Case law has interpreted the ninety-day requirement as satisfied by scheduling a prehearing conference or a hearing. The current version of the rule adds more stringent requirements beyond the APA because it does not recognize the prehearing conferences satisfy the APA requirement. Subsections (4)(a) and (b) will be removed from this rule to make it consistent with the APA.
Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 230-17-010.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 9.46.070.
Adopted under notice filed as WSR 08-19-098 filed on October 14 [September 16], 2008, and published October 1, 2008.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 1, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 1, Repealed 0.
Date Adopted: November 18, 2008.
Susan Arland
Rules Coordinator
OTS-1787.1
AMENDATORY SECTION(Amending Order 615, filed 10/24/07,
effective 1/1/08)
WAC 230-17-010
Requesting and scheduling a hearing.
(1)
Applicants, licensees, or permittees may request a hearing
using the form we provide.
(2) We must receive the request from the applicant, licensee, or permittee at our administrative office within:
(a) Twenty-three days after we mail by regular mail the notice of administrative charges; or
(b) Twenty days after they receive by certified mail the notice of administrative charges; or
(c) Twenty days after we personally serve the notice of administrative charges.
(3) If applicants, licensees, or permittees do not file requests in the time required, then they waive their right to a hearing. They are in default, as defined in RCW 34.05.440, and the commissioners may take action against them up to the maximum penalty stated in the notice of administrative charges.
(4) The director, director's designee, or the presiding officer of the hearing must issue a notice of hearing which meets the requirements of RCW 34.05.434(2).
(((a) The notice must be issued within ninety days from
the date on which we receive the request from the licensee,
applicant, or permittee, unless all parties agree to or the
presiding officer orders an extension beyond the ninety days.
(b) Any change of the ninety-day requirement must be:
(i) In writing; and
(ii) Made a part of the permanent record of the proceeding.))
[Statutory Authority: RCW 9.46.070. 07-21-156 (Order 615), § 230-17-010, filed 10/24/07, effective 1/1/08.]