12VAC5-640-180: Informal conferences and formal hearings

A. An informal conference or consultation proceeding is a meeting held in conformance with § 2.2-4019 of the Code of Virginia. The department shall ascertain the fact basis for its decisions of cases through informal conference or consultation proceedings unless the named party and the department consent to waive such a conference or proceeding to go directly to a formal hearing.

B. The adjudicatory hearing is a formal, public adjudicatory proceeding held in conformance with § 2.2-4020 of the Code of Virginia. The commissioner may afford opportunity for an adjudicatory hearing in any case to the extent that informal procedures under § 2.2-4019 and subsection A of this section have failed to dispose of a case by consent.