PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

Anyone involved in or hurt by a Commission decision can ask the same decision-maker to reconsider it. The request must be filed within 30 days after the Commission gives public notice of the decision. The decision-maker may grant the request if there is a good reason. Asking for reconsideration does not stop the decision from taking effect unless the Commission orders a pause. You do not always have to ask for reconsideration before going to court, but you must first ask if you were not part of the original case or if your legal or factual questions were never given to the Commission to rule on. The decision-maker must write a brief explanation when it grants or denies the request and say what happens next. If the request is about an authorization that was given without a hearing, the decision-maker must act within 90 days. Only new evidence can be added during reconsideration: evidence newly found, evidence that became available after the original proceeding, or evidence the Commission thinks should have been taken earlier. The deadline to start court review or an appeal is counted from the date the Commission gives public notice of the decision. If the request follows the end of a hearing or an investigation, the Commission must decide on it within 90 days. That decision is final and can be appealed to the courts under the law’s appeal rules.

Title 47, §405

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(a)After an order, decision, report, or action has been made or taken in any proceeding by the Commission, or by any designated authority within the Commission pursuant to a delegation under section 155(c)(1) of this title, any party thereto, or any other person aggrieved or whose interests are adversely affected thereby, may petition for reconsideration only to the authority making or taking the order, decision, report, or action; and it shall be lawful for such authority, whether it be the Commission or other authority designated under section 155(c)(1) of this title, in its discretion, to grant such a reconsideration if sufficient reason therefor be made to appear. A petition for reconsideration must be filed within thirty days from the date upon which public notice is given of the order, decision, report, or action complained of. No such application shall excuse any person from complying with or obeying any order, decision, report, or action of the Commission, or operate in any manner to stay or postpone the enforcement thereof, without the special order of the Commission. The filing of a petition for reconsideration shall not be a condition precedent to judicial review of any such order, decision, report, or action, except where the party seeking such review (1) was not a party to the proceedings resulting in such order, decision, report, or action, or (2) relies on questions of fact or law upon which the Commission, or designated authority within the Commission, has been afforded no opportunity to pass. The Commission, or designated authority within the Commission, shall enter an order, with a concise statement of the reasons therefor, denying a petition for reconsideration or granting such petition, in whole or in part, and ordering such further proceedings as may be appropriate: Provided, That in any case where such petition relates to an instrument of authorization granted without a hearing, the Commission, or designated authority within the Commission, shall take such action within ninety days of the filing of such petition. Reconsiderations shall be governed by such general rules as the Commission may establish, except that no evidence other than newly discovered evidence, evidence which has become available only since the original taking of evidence, or evidence which the Commission or designated authority within the Commission believes should have been taken in the original proceeding shall be taken on any reconsideration. The time within which a petition for review must be filed in a proceeding to which section 402(a) of this title applies, or within which an appeal must be taken under section 402(b) of this title in any case, shall be computed from the date upon which the Commission gives public notice of the order, decision, report, or action complained of.

(b)(1)Within 90 days after receiving a petition for reconsideration of an order concluding a hearing under section 204(a) of this title or concluding an investigation under section 208(b) of this title, the Commission shall issue an order granting or denying such petition.

(2)Any order issued under paragraph (1) shall be a final order and may be appealed under section 402(a) of this title.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification “Reconsiderations” substituted in text for “Rehearings” as the probable intent of Congress, in view of amendment by section 127(c)(1) of Pub. L. 97–259, which substituted “reconsideration” for “rehearing” wherever appearing in this section.

Amendments

1988—Pub. L. 100–594 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), substituted “section 155(c)(1)” for “section 155(d)(1)” in two places, and added subsec. (b). 1982—Pub. L. 97–259 substituted “reconsideration” for “rehearing” wherever appearing and “the Commission gives public notice of the order, decision, report, or action complained of” for “public notice is given of orders disposing of all petitions for rehearing filed with the Commission in such proceeding or case, but any order, decision, report, or action made or taken after such rehearing reversing, changing, or modifying the original order shall be subject to the same provisions with respect to rehearing as an original order”. 1961—Pub. L. 87–192 provided for petition for rehearing to the authority making or taking the order, decision, report, or action, substituted references to report and action for requirement, wherever else appearing, and inserted references to proceeding by any designated authority within the Commission, wherever appearing. 1960—Pub. L. 86–752 substituted “any party” for “and party” in first sentence, and inserted sentence dealing with disposition of petitions for rehearing. 1952—Act July 16, 1952, provided for taking of newly discovered evidence and evidence which should have been taken in original hearing.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1960 Amendment Pub. L. 86–752, § 4(d)(4), Sept. 13, 1960, 74 Stat. 892, provided that: “The amendment made by paragraph (2) of subsection (c) of this section [amending this section] shall only apply to petitions for rehearing filed on or after the date of the enactment of this Act [Sept. 13, 1960].”

§405 Petition for Reconsideration; Procedure; Disposition; Time of Filing; Additional Evidence; Time for Disposition of Petition for Reconsideration of Order Concluding Hearing or Investigation; Appeal of Order