Washington Administrative Code

(1) Defined. Except for pleadings identified as petitions under these rules, a party's written or oral request for commission action in the context of an adjudicative proceeding is a motion. Motions should be in writing unless made on the record during a hearing before the presid…

(1) Motion to dismiss.(a) General. A party may move to dismiss another party's claim or case on the asserted basis that the opposing party's pleading fails to state a claim on which the commission may grant relief. When ruling on such a motion, the commission will consider the st…

(1) Definitions.(a) A continuance is any postponement of a deadline established by commission rule or order or any extension of time to comply with such a deadline.(b) A suspension holds all procedural deadlines established by the commission in abeyance pending further commission…

The commission may permit or require the parties to a proceeding to present their arguments and authority in support of their positions after the conclusion of any evidentiary hearing. Such a presentation may be in the form of written briefs, oral argument at the close of the hea…

(1) Format. All pleadings, motions, and briefs must meet the following format requirements:(a) Appearance.(i) Text must be double-spaced, 12-point type, and in palatino, times new Roman, or an equally legible serif font, with footnotes in the same font and of at least 10-point ty…

(1) General.(a) No limitation on commission authority to audit and inspect. Nothing in this section imposes any limitation on the commission's ability to audit or obtain the books and records of public service companies, or public service companies' obligation to provide informat…

(1) Grouping and numbering.(a) Grouping. Parties must group their data requests by subject or witness.(b) Numbering. Each party must number sequentially its data requests to each other party. Numbering of subsequent data requests to the same party must begin with the number next …

(1) Who may be deposed. A party may depose any person identified by another party as a potential witness. A party may depose a person who has not been identified as a potential witness only if the presiding officer approves the deposition. The presiding officer may approve the de…

(1) General. The commission may request or require the parties to attend a discovery conference along with designated witnesses to discuss with each other questions about the party's positions or evidence and the availability of supporting information.(2) Purpose. The purpose of …

(1) Standard form. The commission may enter a standard form of protective order designed to promote the free exchange of information and development of the factual record in a proceeding when the commission finds that parties reasonably anticipate that discovery or evidentiary fi…

(1) Procedure for resolving disputes.(a) Informal resolution. Parties must make good faith efforts to resolve informally all discovery disputes. The commission may designate a person to assist the parties to resolve discovery issues, at the request or with the consent of the part…

(1) General. The commission may require that all parties to, and all persons who seek to intervene in, a proceeding attend a prehearing conference. The following topics are proper subjects for discussion at a prehearing conference:(a) Identification and simplification of the issu…

(1) Initial hearing notice.(a) Timing. The commission will set the time and place of the first hearing session or prehearing conference in any adjudication in a notice served to all parties at least twenty days before the hearing or conference. The commission may shorten the noti…

(1) Dismissal or default. The commission may dismiss a party or find a party in default for failure to appear at the time and place set for hearing. The commission will implement any dismissal or default by a written order. When a party is found in default, the commission's order…

(1) Filing exhibits in advance. Parties must file and serve exhibits that they intend to submit or use in the evidentiary hearing, including proposed cross-examination exhibits, in advance of the hearing. The commission or the presiding officer will establish by notice or in a pr…

These guidelines are of a general nature and are provided to assist the presiding officer in regulating the course of the proceeding. The presiding officer may suspend or modify the guidelines or use measures not specified in this rule.(1) Starting times. The presiding officer wi…

A stipulation is an agreement among parties intended to establish one or more operative facts in a proceeding. The commission encourages parties to enter stipulations of fact. The parties to any proceeding or investigation before the commission may agree to all of the facts or an…

(1) Designation of part of document as evidence. A party that offers only a portion of a document for admission into the evidentiary record must designate that portion as a separate exhibit. If irrelevant matter included in the original document would unnecessarily encumber the r…

(1) Admissibility; exclusion; offer of proof. All relevant evidence is admissible if the presiding officer believes it is the best evidence reasonably obtainable, considering its necessity, availability, and trustworthiness. The presiding officer will consider, but is not require…

(1) General. The commission will receive as a bench exhibit any public comment submitted by nonparties in connection with an adjudicative proceeding. The exhibit will be treated as an illustrative exhibit that expresses public sentiment received concerning the pending matter. The…

(1) Scope of this subpart. This subpart explains the special requirements for certain filings to change rates charged by electric, natural gas, pipeline, telecommunications, and water companies, low-level radioactive waste sites, solid waste collection companies, and commercial f…

(1) Filings that initiate general rate proceedings. Except as otherwise provided in this rule or RCW 80.04.130 (2)(a) (governing rate decreases for telecommunications companies), the commission will initiate a general rate proceeding in response to a filing by any public service …

General rate proceeding filings by electric, natural gas, pipeline, and Class A telecommunications companies as defined in WAC 480-120-034 must include the information described in this section. The company and all parties to an adjudication in a general rate proceeding must file…

General rate proceeding filings by solid waste collection companies or commercial ferries must include the information described in this rule. The company must file all required documents in electronic form consistent with the requirements in WAC 480-07-140. A solid waste collect…

General rate proceeding filings for marine pilotage services must include the information described in this section. The commission may reject a filing that fails to meet these minimum requirements, without prejudice to a petitioner's right to refile its request in conformance wi…

General rate proceeding filings by water companies and Class B telecommunication companies as defined in WAC 480-120-034 must include the information described in this section. The company must file all required documents in electronic form consistent with the requirements in WAC…

Public service companies and the petitioner seeking to establish or modify tariff rates for marine pilotage services bear the burden of proof in the general rate proceedings described in RCW 80.04.130 or 81.04.130. The burden of proof includes the burden of going forward with evi…

Subpart C of this chapter establishes rules for abbreviated and specialized adjudicative proceedings, including brief adjudicative proceedings, emergency adjudicative proceedings, proceedings under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and proceedings concerning the closure of high…

(1) When permitted. The commission may use brief adjudicative proceedings under RCW 34.05.482 when:(a) Such proceedings are consistent with other provisions of law;(b) Protection of the public interest does not require the commission to give notice and an opportunity to participa…

(1) When permitted. The commission may conduct an emergency adjudicative proceeding pursuant to RCW 34.05.479 in any situation involving an immediate danger to the public health, safety, or welfare requiring immediate commission action within the commission's jurisdiction.(2) Com…

(1) Scope. This rule implements the arbitration provisions of sections 251 and 252 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, 47 U.S.C. Secs. 251 and 252.(2) Nature of the proceeding. Arbitrations that the commission conducts pursuant to 47 U.S.C. Sec. 252 are subject to judicial rev…

(1) Scope. This rule implements the commission review and approval process provisions of 47 U.S.C. Sec. 252.(2) Commission review and approval of agreements.(a) Filing and service of agreements.(i) Negotiated agreements. Parties to a negotiated interconnection agreement must file…

The purpose of this rule is to provide a speedy and enforceable means to resolve disputes when one party to an interconnection agreement contends that the other party is violating the terms of the agreement.(1) Petitions for enforcement. A telecommunications company that is a par…

The commission may grant a petition to close a railroad grade crossing without a hearing unless the commission receives an objection to the proposed closure within twenty days after providing notice of the petition as required in RCW 81.53.060.(1) Objections. An objection to a pe…

The commission supports parties' informal efforts to resolve disputes without the need for contested hearings when doing so is lawful and consistent with the public interest. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) includes any mechanism to resolve disagreements, in whole or in part…

(1) Scope. This rule applies generally to settlement negotiations in which the commission agrees to assign a qualified mediator to assist the parties. This rule also implements the mediation provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, 47 U.S.C. Secs. 251 and 252.(2) Commiss…

(1) Definition. A collaborative is a commission-sanctioned negotiation in which interested persons work with each other and representatives of commission staff to achieve consensus on one or more issues within the commission's jurisdiction that the commission assigns or the colla…

A settlement is an agreement among two or more parties to a commission adjudication that resolves one or more disputed issues in that proceeding. All settlements must be documented in a written settlement agreement that the parties file with the commission as a proposed resolutio…

The commission will review all settlement agreements to determine whether they comply with applicable legal requirements and whether approval of the agreements is consistent with the public interest.(1) General. The timing and content of any settlement agreement submitted to the …

(1) Consideration of a settlement. The commission will decide whether to consider a settlement. The commission generally will consider a settlement that complies with the requirements in WAC 480-07-740.(2) Approval or rejection of a settlement. If it considers a settlement, the c…

(1) Entry. The commission has entered an order when all authorized persons have signed it as an official act indicating that the order is to be effective, and those persons or their designee have submitted the order to the commission's records center for service. Each order will …

(1) Defined. Orders the commission enters in an adjudicative proceeding prior to entering an initial or final order are interim or interlocutory orders. Interim or interlocutory orders include, but are not limited to, orders ruling on a party's participation in a proceeding, sche…

(1) Defined.(a) Initial orders. Initial orders are orders an administrative law judge enters that resolve the disputed issues in adjudications in which the administrative law judge presides without the commissioners. The commission secretary also may enter initial orders in respo…

(1) Initial order finality.(a) An initial order will conclude a proceeding and thus be considered final unless within the time for petitioning for administrative review:(i) A party timely petitions for administrative review; or(ii) The commission notifies the parties that it inte…

(1) Record closure. The evidentiary record in an adjudication closes at the conclusion of the last day of hearing unless the commission rules otherwise; except that the evidentiary record will also include any exhibit containing public comments and responses to bench requests the…

(1) Motion for clarification. Any party may request that the commission clarify a final order by filing a motion for clarification within ten days after the commission serves the order. The purpose of such a motion is to ensure that the parties know their rights and responsibilit…

After the commission enters a final order, the commission may schedule an order clarification conference on its own motion or at a party's request. The commissioners may attend the conference or may designate one or more persons to attend on their behalf. The commission will dete…