New Mexico Administrative Code › Title 22 - COURTS › Chapter 600 - ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS OFFICE › Part 3 - HEARINGS UNDER THE TAX ADMINISTRATION ACT › Section 22.600.3.11 - VIDEO-CONFERENCE HEARINGS, TELEPHONIC HEARINGS, AND TELEPHONIC TESTIMONY

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 13, July 16, 2024
A. Scheduling
				hearings and other preliminary, preconference, motions, or prehearing motions
				hearings may be conducted via telephone, or videoconference or equivalent
				electronic method without consent or waiver of either party.
B. If both TRD and the taxpayer agree, they
				may petition the assigned hearing officer at least seven days before the
				scheduled merits hearing to conduct the merits hearing via secure
				videoconference pursuant to Subsection H of Section
				7-1B-8
				NMSA 1978. The hearing officer may grant or deny the request after considering
				whether a complete and accurate record can be made and a fair hearing can be
				conducted in the matter via secure videoconference. Even if the initial request
				is granted, the hearing officer always retains the discretion at any point in
				the proceeding to order the personal appearance of the parties and witnesses if
				in the hearing officer's determination resolution of the disputed facts,
				evidence, credibility of a witness, question of law, or development of a
				complete and accurate record requires it.
C.The administrative hearings office may also
				schedule a merits hearing as a videoconference hearing with consent of the
				parties, which shall be deemed to have been granted absent either party filing
				a written objection within 14 days of notice a videoconference merits
				hearing.
D. If a hearing is
				scheduled to be conducted via videoconference:
(1) all parties, witnesses, and the hearing
				officer will appear via videoconference service specified by the administrative
				hearings office. The administrative hearings office shall take reasonable
				precautions to ensure that the videoconference is secure and confidential.
				However, by requesting or consenting to a videoconference hearing, the parties
				shall be deemed to understand that the administrative hearings office may
				contract, license or utilize a third-party service provider to facilitate
				videoconferencing and that all electronic communications are vulnerable to
				security breaches beyond the reasonable control or knowledge of the
				administrative hearings office. If such electronic security breaches were to
				occur, they constitute unintentional, inadvertent disclosures and do not amount
				to a breach of statutory confidentiality requirements under relevant law by any
				party or the hearing officer appearing via videoconference. The parties shall
				also waive any claims against the administrative hearings office, its
				employees, agents or contractors, arising from any disclosure and shall be
				deemed to have assumed risk of disclosure by requesting or agreeing to appear
				via videoconference;
(2) the
				parties shall ensure that they have exchanged all exhibits with each other and
				provided the assigned hearing officer with an exhibit binder before
				commencement of the approved videoconference hearing;
(3) the parties also shall provide contact
				phone numbers where they will be available at the time of the hearing in case
				there are technical errors or other issues with conducting the
				videoconference;
(4)in the event
				that technical or other computer problems prevent the videoconference hearing
				from occurring or interfere with maintaining or developing a complete record at
				the hearing, the parties agree and consent upon their submission of a request
				to conduct the matter via videoconference that the assigned hearing officer at
				their discretion may continue the matter to a different time without regard to
				any other statutory deadline, may order the parties to appear for an in-person
				hearing, or may conduct the hearing via telephone;
(5) in the event of a videoconference
				hearing, the hearing record will only be the audio recording or transcription
				of the proceeding and will not include the video portion of the
				proceeding.