a) Public Hearings;
Notice and Place
All hearings conducted in any proceeding shall be open to the
public. The time and place of all such hearings shall be set by the Board or
the Director of the Office of Mines and Minerals. Notice of such hearing, the
number of days' notice, the service of such notice, and the manner of such
shall be in accordance with the following provisions:
1) Adjudicatory Proceedings
Within fifteen (15) days from the filing with the Board of a
formal complaint or petition, notice of the time and place for an adjudicatory
hearing on the matter shall be served on all parties. Notice shall include a
copy of the complaint or petition. Such notice shall be sent not less than
fifteen (15) days prior to the date fixed for said hearing. Service of such
notice shall be in accordance with Section
100.70(b)
(3) of this Part. Upon written agreement by
all parties, the notice provisions of this sub-paragraph may be waived by the
Board.
2) Rule-making
Proceedings
The Director of the Office of Mines and Minerals shall give
written notice of the intention of the Board to adopt, amend, or repeal any
Health and Safety Rules. The notice shall contain the time, date, and place of
a hearing where interested persons may present their views and either a
statement of the terms or substance of the intended action, including, when
appropriate, a specific reference to the Rule or Rules involved a description
of the subject matter and issues involved in the intended action. Such notice
shall be served on all interested persons as defined in these Rules of
Procedure, published in the official State newspaper not less than thirty (30)
nor more than forty-five (45) days prior to the date fixed for said hearing.
Service of said notice on all interested parties shall be in accordance with
Section
100.70(b)
(3) of this Part.
b) Default in Adjudicatory
Proceedings
In the event of failure to appear or answer, after notice
served as herein provided, a hearing may be held ex parte immediately in the
direction of the Board.
c)
Mining Board: Powers and Duties
1) Subject as
herein provided and particularly, but without limitation, subject to
sub-paragraph (5) of this Section, all hearings involving any complaint,
petition, application, or other proceedings shall be heard by the Mining Board.
No less than four (4) members of the Mining Board plus the Director of the
Office of Mines and Minerals, as the Board's executive officer, shall
constitute a quorum. Only in the case of the tie vote shall the Director of the
Office of Mines and Minerals, as executive officer, have the right to
vote.
2) The Director may, if the
Board so recommends and if the Department makes funds available for such
purpose, designate any attorney duly licensed to practice law in the State of
Illinois, and not regularly engaged in the representation of parties before the
Board, as counsel for the Board in any matter pending before it.
3) The Board's counsel may, at the discretion
of the Board, examine witnesses and afford the Board such legal counsel as the
Board may require, whether before, at or after any hearing, with respect to the
law applicable to all or any of the following:
A) The subject matter of the
proceedings;
B) The pleadings
therein and any other papers or memoranda filed by the parties, or any of them,
in the proceedings;
C) The evidence
presented or sought to be presented at the hearing or at any other time in the
proceedings;
D) Procedural or other
matters or questions which may be involved in or raised at such hearing or at
any other time in the proceedings;
E) Arguments of any of the parties or their
counsel;
F) The Board's findings
and recommendations, and report thereof, to the Director; and
G) Decision, order, ruling, determination or
action proposed to be made or taken by the Board or the Director of the Office
of Mines and Minerals or both; and
H) In no event shall such legal counsel have
any vote in any recommendation made by the Board. All hearings and conferences
shall at all times be under the control of the Board, except as provided in (5)
below.
4) Without in any
way limiting of the powers of the Board under any applicable statute, said
Board in any hearing before it shall have full authority to:
A) Rule upon all motions made in the course
of the hearing;
B) Rule upon all
other matters arising in the course of the hearing, such as, but not limited
to, admissibility of evidence or amendments to pleadings;
C) Direct parties to enter their respective
appearances of record;
D) Determine
at which stage of any hearing an intervenor may be permitted to offer
evidence;
E) Require upon
reasonable notice, any party, including without limitation, the Department, at
any stage of any hearing or after all parties have completed the presentation
of their evidence, to present further material or relevant evidence upon any
issue including, but not limited to, the production of any and all documents,
books, papers, and accounts, the Board reasonably deems material or relevant to
any issue pending before it; and
F)
To administer oaths to all persons appearing before it.
5) If the respondent in an adjudicatory
proceeding shall believe the members of the Board are prejudiced against such
respondent, he shall petition the Director in writing, at least ten (10) days
prior to the date set for hearing, to appoint a Special Committee of the Board
to hear the matter. Such petition shall be accompanied by an affidavit setting
forth the facts upon which such claim of prejudice is based signed by the
respondent. The Director shall make a determination based on such evidence as
he deems sufficient whether such prejudice exists, and may remove any or all
such Board members he finds prejudiced. If he removes all such members, then
the Director may designate any attorney duly licensed to practice law in the
State of Illinois to serve as the Special Committee of the Board with the same
powers as the Board.
6) The
following shall be the order of proceedings at all hearings, subject to
modification by the Board before which such hearing is scheduled, for good
cause:
A) Adjudicatory Hearings
i) Presentation, argument, and disposition of
all preliminary motions;
ii)
Presentation of opening statements;
iii) Case in chief of the Department and any
intervenor, or case in chief of any petition, as the case may be;
iv) Respondent's case in chief;
v) Rebuttal if allowed by the
Board;
vi) Surrebuttal if allowed
by the Board;
vii) Statements from
interested persons if allowed by the Board;
viii) Summation, which may include legal
argument by the Department, intervenor or any petitioner, as the case may
be;
ix) Respondent's summation,
which may include legal argument;
x) Rebuttal statement by the Department;
and
xi) Presentation and argument
of all motions prior to final order.
B) Rule-Making Hearings
i) Presentation of the intended action and
the basis for such intended action, including all evidence, testimony, and data
relied on by the Department;
ii)
Presentation of applicant's case in chief, oral, and written in support of
intended Rule-making, if application was made;
iii) Presentation of other oral and written
testimony in support of the intended Rule-making;
iv) Presentation of oral and written
testimony in opposition to the intended Rulemaking; and
v) Closing statement by the Department, which
may include rebuttal of statements made in opposition to the Rule-making
action.
d) Rules of Evidence
1) The technical rules of evidence shall not
apply at any hearing.
2) The burden
of proof in any adjudicatory proceeding shall be upon the Department, or
petitioner, as the case may be, therein, except that, in the case of any new
matter introduced in any affirmative defense or in any kind of intervening
petition, or otherwise, the burden of proof with respect thereto shall be upon
the party, petitioner, or intervenor who, or which, alleges such new
matter.
3) Any evidence having
probative value and force, relevant and material to facts in issue, shall be
admitted in the proceedings, subject only to objections to the weight thereof
as distinguished from admissibility, per se. Immaterial, irrelevant, and unduly
repetitious evidence shall be excluded. When the admissibility of evidence is
in dispute and depends upon fairly arguable interpretations of law, such
evidence shall be admitted.
e) Examination of Witnesses
1) Any party may, upon request, conduct
examinations or cross-examinations without rigid adherence to formal rules of
evidence, provided the examination or cross-examination does not descend to
sheer abuse or harassment of a witness and the examination or cross-examination
can be shown to be necessary to a full and fair disclosure of facts bearing
upon matters in issue.
2) Each
member of the Board may, in his discretion, examine all or any of the witnesses
at any hearing.
f)
Special Rules for Adjudicatory Hearings
1) If
the Board determines that a witness is hostile or unresponsive, the Board may
authorize the examination by the party calling him as if under
cross-examination.
2) The
Department may call any adverse party as a witness without vouching for his
credibility and proceed to examine such adverse party as if under
cross-examination. Any party calling a witness, upon a showing that he called
the witness in good faith and is surprised by his testimony, may impeach that
witness by evidence of prior inconsistent statements.
g) Stipulations in Adjudicatory Hearings
Parties may by stipulation agree upon any facts involved in the
proceeding. The facts stipulated shall be considered as evidence in the
proceeding, provided that the Board may require proof of any fact by evidence
where matters of public interest are involved. At any stage of the hearing, or
after all parties have completed the presentation of their evidence, the Board
may call upon any party or the Department for further material or relevant
evidence upon any issue.
h)
Court Reporter
The Department will designate a licensed court reporter to make
a stenographic record of hearings in all proceedings in which a recording is
required by the Act or upon request of any party, provided that all costs of
such stenographic record shall be borne by the party so requesting said record.
The Department will arrange for the reporter to provide for such copies of the
transcript as any other party may request and at such time as it may request
same, for its own purposes, provided that such other party shall pay directly
to such reporter the payment for the cost of the transcript including one (1)
copy thereof to be furnished the Department for its use in any proceeding for
Administrative Review as hereinafter provided, or otherwise.
i) Corrections to Transcript
Suggested corrections to the transcript of record may be
offered within ten (10) days after the transcript is filed in the proceeding,
unless the Board permits suggested corrections to be offered thereafter.
Suggested corrections shall be served upon, or brought to the attention of,
each party whose appearance is of record or his attorney, the official reporter
and the Board. If suggested corrections are not objected to, the Board will
direct the corrections to be made and the manner of making them. In case the
parties disagree on suggested corrections, they may be heard by the Board,
which shall then determine the manner in which the record shall be changed, if
at all.
j) Additional
Hearings
Motions for a further hearing in any proceeding at any time
before final order of the Board shall be made in writing to the Board and shall
state specifically the reasons therefor. If such motion seeks leave to
introduce further or newly discovered evidence, the nature and purpose of the
evidence to be adduced shall be stated and supported by affidavit, and it must
appear that such evidence is relevant and material, was not reasonably
available at the time of the hearings and is not merely cumulative. The Board
shall rule on such motion and shall give notice of its decision to all parties
in accordance with Section
100.70(b)
(3) of this Part.
k) Motions for Rehearing - Adjudicatory
Proceedings
Motions to the Board for rehearing or for reconsideration of
the recommendations of the Board on the record made or for modification thereof
shall be made in writing pursuant to governing statutes and shall state
specifically the grounds relied upon. If rehearing is sought on the ground of
new evidence, the nature and purpose of such evidence shall be stated,
supported by affidavit showing why evidence was not available at the time of
the hearings. The Board shall rule on such motion and shall give notice of its
decision to all parties in accordance with Section
100.40(b)
(3) of this Part.
l) Postponement or Continuance of Hearing
A hearing may, at any time or from time to time, be postponed
or continued for due cause shown by the Board upon its own motion or upon
motion of any party to the proceeding. Notice of any motion for postponement or
continuance shall be given in writing to all parties to the hearing within a
reasonable time in advance of the previously scheduled hearing date, but in no
event less than three (3) business days prior to the previously scheduled
hearing date (in absence of a bona fide emergency). All parties involved in a
hearing shall avoid undue delay caused by repetitive postponements or
continuances so that the subject matter of the hearing may be resolved
expeditiously.
