KRS 224.10-440: Hearings -- Reports, recommended orders, exceptions, decisions --

Rights of parties -- Records -- Hearings to be public -- Administrative

regulations.

(1) All hearings under this chapter shall be held before a qualified hearing officer, who

may be a full-time employee of the cabinet, serve by contract, or be paid on a per

diem basis in the discretion of the cabinet. After the conclusion of the hearing, the

hearing officer shall make to the secretary a report and recommended order which

shall contain a finding of fact and a conclusion of law. The hearing officer shall

serve a copy of his report and recommended order upon all parties of record to the

proceeding, and they shall be granted the right to file within fourteen (14) days of

receipt exceptions thereto. The secretary shall consider the report, exceptions, and

recommended order and decide the case within ninety (90) days. The secretary, for

good cause, may take no more than an additional forty -five (45) days provided the

secretary gives the parti es written notice stating the good cause within the original

ninety (90) day period. The secretary's decision shall be served by mail upon all

parties and shall be a final order of the cabinet.

(2) Any party to a hearing under this subsection may be repres ented by counsel, may

make oral or written argument, offer testimony, cross -examine witnesses, or take

any combination of these actions. The secretary may promulgate administrative

regulations to require that direct testimony be filed in writing prior to t he hearing,

either for all or some categories of cases. The record of the hearing shall be open to

public inspection, and copies thereof shall be made available to any person upon

payment of the actual cost of reproducing the original except as provided in KRS

224.10-210.

(3) Unless all parties to the case agree in writing otherwise, the hearing officer shall

conduct the hearing, complete the report and recommended order, and transmit the

report and recommended order to the secretary no later than one hundr ed eighty

(180) days after service of the written notice described in KRS 224.10 -420(1) upon

all named parties or service of the petition and demand for hearing pursuant to KRS

224.10-420(2) upon all named parties, whichever is applicable. Upon written

request of the hearing officer or any party to the hearing, the secretary or secretary's

designee, for good cause shown, may extend this deadline for a period not to exceed

ninety (90) days. The secretary shall grant no more than two (2) ninety (90) day

extensions under this subsection, unless the secretary and all parties to the case

agree to the contrary in writing.

(4) The secretary may promulgate administrative regulations to establish procedures

and deadlines for submitting a written request for an extens ion pursuant to

subsection (3) of this section. The secretary shall require that any written request for

extension include a proposed date certain by which the hearing or report and

recommended order, or both, will be completed.

(5) Upon the failure of the hearing officer to make a report and recommended order to

the secretary within the deadline set forth in subsection (3) of this section, including

any extensions granted by the secretary pursuant to subsections (3) and (4) of this

section, the secretary s hall remove the case from the hearing officer. The secretary

shall then:

(a) Decide the case within ninety (90) days after allowing the parties to

supplement the record, if necessary; or

(b) Transfer the case to another qualified hearing officer for comple tion of the

hearing or report and recommended order, or both, by a new deadline set by

the secretary. The secretary shall make no more than one (1) transfer pursuant

to this subsection.

(6) All hearings conducted pursuant to this chapter shall be open to the public except as

provided in KRS 224.10-210.