California Code of Regulations › Title 8 - Industrial Relations › Division 1 - Department of Industrial Relations › Chapter 8 - Office of the Director › Subchapter 6 - Prevailing Wage Hearings › Article 1 - General › Section 17207 - Ex Parte Communications

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a) Except as provided in this Rule, once a
					 Request for Review is filed, and while the proceeding is pending, there shall
					 be no direct or indirect communication regarding any issue in the proceeding to
					 the appointed Hearing Officer or the Director, from the Enforcing Agency or any
					 other Party or other interested Person, without notice and the opportunity for
					 all Parties to participate in the communication.
(b) A communication made on the record in the
					 hearing is permissible.
(c) A
					 communication concerning a matter of procedure or practice is presumed to be
					 permissible, unless the topic of the communication appears to the Hearing
					 Officer to be controversial in the context of the specific case. If so, the
					 Hearing Officer shall so inform the other participant and may terminate the
					 communication or continue it until after giving all Parties notice and an
					 opportunity to participate. Any written communication concerning a matter of
					 procedure or practice, and any written response, or a written memorandum
					 identifying the participants and stating the substance of any such oral
					 communication or response, shall be added to the case file so that all Parties
					 have a reasonable opportunity to review it. Unless otherwise provided by
					 statute or these Rules, the appointed Hearing Officer may determine a matter of
					 procedure or practice based upon a permissible ex-parte communication. The term
					 "matters of procedure or practice" shall be liberally construed.
(d) A communication from the Labor
					 Commissioner to the Hearing Officer or the Director which is deemed permissible
					 under Government Code section
					 11430.30
					 is permitted only if any such written communication and any written response,
					 or a written memorandum identifying the participants and stating the substance
					 of any such oral communication or response, is added to the case file so that
					 all Parties have a reasonable opportunity to review it.
(e) If the Hearing Officer or the Director
					 receives a communication in violation of this Rule, he or she shall comply with
					 the requirements of Government Code section
					 11430.50.
(f) To the extent not inconsistent with Labor
					 Code section
					 1742, the
					 provisions of Article 7 of Chapter 4.5 of Title 2, Division 3, Part 1
					 (commencing with section
					 11430.10) of the Government Code
					 governing ex parte communications in administrative adjudication proceedings
					 shall apply to review proceedings conducted under these Rules.
(g) This Rule shall not be construed as
					 prohibiting communications between the Director and the Labor Commissioner or
					 between the Director and any other interested Person on issues or policies of
					 general interest that coincide with issues involved in a pending review
					 proceeding;
provided that
(1)
					 the communication does not directly or indirectly seek to influence the outcome
					 of any pending proceeding;
(2) the
					 communication does not directly or indirectly identify or otherwise refer to
					 any pending proceeding; and
(3) the
					 communication does not occur at a time when the Director or the other party to
					 the communication knows that a proceeding in which the other party to the
					 communication is interested is under active consideration by the
					 Director.