2023 New York Laws › SAP - State Administrative Procedure Act › Article 3 - Adjudicatory Proceedings › 307 - Decisions, Determinations and Orders.

§  307.  Decisions,  determinations  and  orders. 1. A final decision,
determination or order adverse to a party in an adjudicatory  proceeding
shall  be  in writing or stated in the record and shall include findings
of  fact  and  conclusions  of  law  or  reasons   for   the   decision,
determination  or  order.  Findings  of  fact, if set forth in statutory
language, shall be accompanied by a concise and  explicit  statement  of
the  underlying  facts  supporting  the findings. If, in accordance with
agency rules, a party submitted proposed findings of fact, the decision,
determination or  order  shall  include  a  ruling  upon  each  proposed
finding.  A  copy  of  the  decision,  determination  or  order shall be
delivered or mailed forthwith to each  party  and  to  his  attorney  of
record.
2.  Unless required for the disposition of ex parte matters authorized
by law, members or employees of an agency assigned to render a  decision
or  to  make  findings of fact and conclusions of law in an adjudicatory
proceeding shall not communicate, directly or indirectly, in  connection
with  any  issue  of  fact, with any person or party, nor, in connection
with any issue of law, with any party or his representative, except upon
notice and opportunity for all parties to participate.  Any such  agency
member (a) may communicate with other members of the agency, and (b) may
have  the aid and advice of agency staff other than staff which has been
or  is  engaged  in  the  investigative  or  prosecuting  functions   in
connection with the case under consideration or factually related case.
This  subdivision  does  not apply (a) in determining applications for
initial licenses for public utilities or carriers; or (b) to proceedings
involving the validity or application of rates, facilities, or practices
of public utilities or carriers.
3. (a) Each agency shall maintain an index by name and subject of  all
written  final  decisions,  determinations  and  orders  rendered by the
agency in adjudicatory proceedings.  For purposes of  this  subdivision,
such  index  shall  also  include  by name and subject all written final
decisions, determinations and orders rendered by the agency pursuant  to
a  statute  providing any party an opportunity to be heard, other than a
rule making.   Such index  and  the  text  of  any  such  written  final
decision,   determination   or  order  shall  be  available  for  public
inspection and copying. Each decision, determination and order shall  be
indexed within sixty days after having been rendered.
(b)  An agency may delete from any such index, decision, determination
or order  any  information  that,  if  disclosed,  would  constitute  an
unwarranted  invasion  of  personal  privacy  under  the  provisions  of
subdivision two of section eighty-nine of the public  officers  law  and
may  also  delete  at  the request of any person all references to trade
secrets that, if  disclosed,  would  cause  substantial  injury  to  the
competitive  position  of  such  person.  Information which would reveal
confidential material protected by federal or state  statute,  shall  be
deleted from any such index, decision, determination or order.