Pennsylvania Administrative Code

DOCKET § 33.51. Docket. The office of the agency shall maintain a docket of all proceedings, and each proceeding as initiated shall be assigned an appropriate designation. The docket shall be available for inspection and copying by the public during the office hours of the agency…

WAIVER OF RULES § 33.61. Applications for waiver of formal requirements. (a) Pleadings, submittals or other documents which are subject to rejection under § 31.5 (relating to communications and filings generally) may be accompanied by a request, under § 35.18 (relating to petitio…

APPLICATIONS § 35.1. Applications generally. Applications for authorization or permission which an agency may give under statutory or other delegated authority administered by it, in addition to the requirements prescribed in this part, shall conform to the requirements of the re…

§ 35.10. Form and content of formal complaints. A complaint may be made by letter or other writing. It shall contain the name and address of the complainant, the name and address of the party against whom the complaint is made, and a statement of the facts forming the basis for t…

GENERAL § 35.101. Waiver of hearing. In any proceeding in which an agency is authorized to act after opportunity for hearing, if the participants waive hearing, such opportunity shall be deemed to have been afforded by publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin of notice of the app…

§ 35.102. Hearing calendar. (a) The agency will maintain a hearing calendar of all proceedings set for hearing. (b) In the absence of cause requiring otherwise, and as time, the nature of the proceedings, and the proper execution of the functions of the agency permit, matters req…

NOTICE OF HEARING § 35.103. Preliminary notice to Department of Justice. Before notice of any hearing leading to an adjudication is given, any agency subject to 2 Pa.C.S. § 508 (relating to notice to Department of Justice) will submit the matter to its representative in the Depar…

§ 35.104. Notice of rulemaking proceedings. (a) Before the adoption of any regulation, or the commencement of any hearing on any proposed rulemaking, the agency will cause general notice to be published as provided in Chapter 7 (relating to procedure for adoption or change of reg…

§ 35.105. Notice of nonrulemaking proceedings. (a) In proceedings other than those referred to in § 35.104 (relating to notice of rulemaking proceedings), notices and orders initiating hearings which are ordered by the agency to be published in a legal newspaper or a newspaper of…

§ 35.106. Contents of notice of nonrulemaking proceedings. The order or notice initiating a hearing for a purpose other than rulemaking will set forth the authority and jurisdiction under which the hearing is to be held, will state the nature of the proceeding, and will specify t…

§ 35.11. Joinder of formal complaints. Two or more grounds of complaint involving the same purposes, subject or state of facts, may be included in one complaint, but should be separately stated and identified; and two or more complainants may join in one complaint if their respec…

PREHEARING CONFERENCES § 35.111. Conferences to adjust, settle or expedite proceedings. In order to provide opportunity for the submission and consideration of facts, arguments, offers of settlement, or proposals of adjustment, for settlement of a proceeding, or any of the issues…

§ 35.112. Conferences to expedite hearings. At a prehearing or other conferences which may be held to expedite the orderly conduct and disposition of a hearing, there may be considered, in addition to offers of settlement or proposals of adjustment, the possibility of the followi…

§ 35.113. Initiation of conferences. (a) The agency head or the presiding officer, with or without motion, and after consideration of the probability of beneficial results to be derived therefrom, may direct that a conference be held, and direct the parties to the proceeding, the…

§ 35.114. Authority of presiding officer at conference. The presiding officer at a conference may dispose of by ruling, irrespective of the consent of the participants, procedural matters which he is authorized to rule upon during the course of the proceeding, and which it appear…

§ 35.115. Offers of settlement. Nothing contained in these rules shall be construed as precluding a participant in a proceeding from submitting at any time offers of settlement or proposals of adjustment to all parties and to the agency, or to staff counsel for transmittal to the…

§ 35.116. Refusal to make admissions or stipulate. If a party attending a conference convened under these rules refuses to admit or stipulate the genuineness of a document or the truth of a matter of fact and if the participant requesting the admissions or stipulations thereafter…

HEARING § 35.121. Initiation of hearings. Hearings for the purpose of taking evidence will be initiated by the agency by issuance of an order or by notice announcing the initiation of a hearing. Cross References This section cited in 4 Pa. Code § 265.3 (relating to level II heari…

§ 35.122. Consolidation of formal proceedings. The agency, with or without motion, may order proceedings involving a common question of law or fact to be consolidated for hearing of the matters in issue in such proceedings. Cross References This section cited in 4 Pa. Code § 615.…

§ 35.123. Conduct of hearings. Hearings will be held before the agency head or a presiding officer designated under Subchapter E (relating to presiding officers). Notes of Decisions Finder of Fact The Secretary of the Department of Public Welfare is clearly an ‘‘agency head’’ and…

§ 35.124. Appearances. The agency head or the presiding officer before whom the hearing is held shall cause to be entered upon the record all appearances, with a notation in whose behalf each appearance is made. Included in the appearances shall be staff counsel participating, an…

§ 35.125. Order of procedure. (a) In hearings upon applications, formal complaints or petitions, the complainant, petitioner or other party having the burden of proof, shall open and close, unless otherwise directed by the presiding officer. In hearings on investigations and in p…

§ 35.126. Presentation by the parties. (a) Parties and staff counsel shall have the right of presentation of evidence, cross-examination, objection, motion and argument. The taking of evidence and subsequent proceedings shall proceed with reasonable diligence and with the least p…

§ 35.127. Limiting number of witnesses. The agency head or the presiding officer may limit appropriately the number of witnesses who may be heard upon an issue. Notes of Decisions The hearing examiner having the authority to limit the number of witnesses did not violate the insur…

§ 35.128. Additional evidence. At a stage of the hearing the agency head or the presiding officer may call for further evidence upon an issue, and require the evidence to be presented by the party or parties concerned or by the staff counsel, either at that hearing or at the adjo…

TRANSCRIPT § 35.131. Recording of proceedings. Hearings shall be stenographically reported by the official reporter of the agency, and a transcript of the report shall be a part of the record and the sole official transcript of the proceeding. The transcripts shall include a verb…

§ 35.132. Transcript corrections. Corrections in the official transcript may be made only to make it conform to the evidence presented at the hearing and to speak the truth. No corrections or physical changes shall be made in or upon the official transcript of the proceeding, exc…

§ 35.133. Copies of transcripts. (a) Availability to participants in public hearings. The agency will cause to be made a stenographic record of all public hearings and the copies of the transcript thereof as it requires for its own purposes. Participants desiring copies of the tr…

GENERAL § 35.137. Oral examination. Witnesses shall be examined orally unless the testimony is taken by deposition as provided in § § 35.145—35.152 (relating to depositions) or the facts are stipulated in the manner provided in § 35.112 (relating to conferences to expedite hearin…

§ 35.138. Expert witnesses. Written testimony of an expert witness may be received as provided in § 35.166 (relating to prepared expert testimony), where properly supported by the oral testimony of its author on direct examination, subject to cross-examination and motions to stri…

§ 35.139. Fees of witnesses. Witnesses subpoenaed by the agency shall be paid the same fees and mileage as are paid for like services in the courts of common pleas. Witnesses subpoenaed at the instance of participants shall be paid the same fees by the participant at whose instan…

ORDERS TO SHOW CAUSE § 35.14. Orders to show cause. Whenever an agency desires to institute a proceeding against a person under statutory or other authority, the agency may commence the action by an order to show cause setting forth the grounds for the action. The order will cont…

SUBPOENAS § 35.142. Subpoenas. (a) Issuance. Subpoenas for the attendance of witnesses or for the production of documentary evidence, unless directed by the agency upon its own motion, will issue only upon application in writing to the agency head or the presiding officer, except…

DEPOSITIONS § 35.145. Depositions. The testimony of a witness may be taken by deposition, upon application by a participant in a proceeding pending before the agency, before the hearing is closed, upon approval by the agency head or the presiding officer. Cross References This se…

§ 35.146. Notice and application. Unless notice is waived, no deposition may be taken except after at least 10 days’ notice to the participants if the deposition is to be taken within this Commonwealth, and 15 days’ notice when a deposition is to be taken elsewhere. The notice sh…

§ 35.147. Authorization of taking deposition. If an application for the taking of a deposition so warrants, the agency head or presiding officer will issue and serve, within a reasonable time in advance of the time fixed for taking testimony, upon the participants an authorizatio…

§ 35.148. Officer before whom deposition is taken. (a) Within the United States. Depositions may be taken before the agency head, a member of a board or commission comprising the agency, a presiding officer or other authorized representative of the agency, a notary public or anot…

§ 35.149. Oath and reduction to writing. Every person whose testimony is taken by deposition shall be sworn, or shall affirm concerning the matter about which he shall testify, before a question is put or testimony given. The testimony shall be reduced to writing by the notarial …

§ 35.150. Scope and conduct of examination. Unless otherwise directed in the authorization, the deponent may be examined regarding a matter which is relevant to the issues involved in the pending proceeding, including the existence, description, nature, custody, condition and loc…

§ 35.151. Status of deposition as part of record. No part of a deposition may constitute a part of the record in the proceeding, unless received in evidence by the agency head or presiding officer. Objection may be made at the hearing in the proceeding to receiving in evidence a …

§ 35.152. Fees of officers and deponents. Deponents whose depositions are taken and the notarial officers taking the depositions shall be entitled to the same fees as are paid for like services in the courts of common pleas, which fees shall be paid by the participant at whose in…

STIPULATIONS § 35.155. Presentation and effect of stipulations. Independently of the orders or rulings issued as provided by § 35.112 (relating to conferences to expedite hearings) the participants may stipulate as to a relevant matter of fact or the authenticity of relevant docu…

EVIDENCE § 35.161. Form and admissibility of evidence. In a proceeding before the agency head or a presiding officer, relevant and material evidence shall be admissible, but there shall be excluded evidence that is repetitious or cumulative, or evidence that is not of the kind wh…

§ 35.162. Reception and ruling on evidence. The presiding officer, subject to § 35.190 (relating to appeals to agency head from rulings of presiding officers), shall rule on the admissibility of evidence, and shall otherwise control the reception of evidence so as to confine it t…

§ 35.163. Designation of relevant portions of documentary evidence. Where relevant and material matter offered in evidence is embraced in a document containing other matter not material or relevant and not intended to be put in evidence, the participant offering such document sha…

§ 35.164. Documents on file with agency. In case any matter contained in a report or other document on file with the agency is offered in evidence, such report or other document need not be produced or marked for identification, but may be offered in evidence by specifying the re…

§ 35.165. Public documents. Whenever there is offered in evidence (in whole or in part) a public document, such as an official report, decision, opinion or published scientific or economic statistical data issued by any of the executive departments (or their subdivisions), legisl…