Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 21 - Law And Justice › Part 201 - Rules of the Mississippi Ethics Commission › Chapter 4 - Open Meetings Disputes › Rule 21-201-4.6 - Preliminary Report and Recommendation by Hearing Officer

Current through June 25, 2024
Prior to a hearing on the merits, the hearing officer may
				  prepare a preliminary report and recommendation, including, if appropriate,
				  proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law, based upon the record
				  available to the hearing officer. The hearing officer shall file the
				  preliminary report and recommendation with the Commission and distribute it to
				  the Commission members by electronic mail. If within forty-eight (48) hours of
				  sending the preliminary report and recommendation, no Commission member asks
				  that it be held for further consideration, then the hearing officer shall serve
				  a copy of the preliminary report and recommendation on all parties. If within
				  forty-eight (48) hours of sending the preliminary report and recommendation one
				  or more Commission members does ask that it be held for further consideration,
				  then the hearing officer shall present the preliminary report and
				  recommendation to the Commission at its next meeting, at which the Commission
				  can either accept the preliminary report and recommendation or reject it and
				  set the matter for hearing. If the hearing officer serves a preliminary report
				  and recommendation on the parties, the hearing officer shall also provide the
				  parties with written notice of a proposed hearing date in the event either
				  party objects to the preliminary report and recommendation as provided
				  below.
Within five (5) business days of receiving a copy of the
				  preliminary report and recommendation, any party may file specific written
				  objections to the preliminary report and recommendation. Failure to file such
				  objection waives that partys right to a hearing on the merits. Upon receiving
				  such objection, the hearing officer shall set the hearing on the merits for the
				  date proposed in the notice of proposed hearing date previously mailed to the
				  parties or some other date agreed to by the parties. After the hearing on the
				  merits, the hearing officer shall prepare a final report and recommendation.
				  However, nothing contained in these rules shall require the hearing officer to
				  set a hearing on the merits for a complaint in which the hearing officer
				  recommends dismissal or in which there are no facts in dispute.
If no objection to the preliminary report and recommendation
				  is received within the time provided above, the hearing officer shall prepare a
				  final report and recommendation or, in the hearing officer's discretion, set
				  the matter for a hearing on the merits for the date proposed in the notice of
				  proposed hearing date or some other date agreed to by the parties. If the
				  hearing officer sets the matter for a hearing on the merits, the hearing
				  officer shall prepare a final report and recommendation after such
				  hearing.
The hearing officer shall submit the final report and
				  recommendation to the Commission and present it to the Commission at its next
				  regularly scheduled meeting. The Commission can enter a final order dismissing
				  the case, modifying the report and recommendation, or adopting the report and
				  recommendation, or the Commission can enter an order remanding the case for
				  further hearing.
Section
				  25-41-15,
				  Miss. Code of 1972.