Texas Administrative Code › Title 34 - PUBLIC FINANCE › Part 1 - COMPTROLLER OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS › Chapter 9 - PROPERTY TAX ADMINISTRATION › Subchapter L - PROCEDURES FOR PROTESTING COMPTROLLER PROPERTY VALUE STUDY AND AUDIT FINDINGS › Section 9.4313 - Conduct of Oral Hearing

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) Except as
				  otherwise provided in this subchapter, the ALJ shall convene a hearing for a
				  protest.
(b) All oral hearings
				  under this subchapter shall be recorded. The comptroller or petitioner will be
				  provided a copy of the recording after a written request and payment of a
				  cost-based fee to SOAH. Upon written notice provided to the ALJ and
				  comptroller, and at least ten calendar days prior to a scheduled hearing, a
				  petitioner may make arrangements for and bear the cost of having a hearing
				  recorded and transcribed by a court reporter.
(c) Oral hearings are generally open to the
				  public and shall be held in Austin. The ALJ may close a hearing on the ALJ's
				  own motion or on the motion of a party to the protest if confidential
				  information will be disclosed during the hearing.
(d) Hearings shall be conducted in accordance
				  with this subchapter. The Texas Administrative Procedures Act, the Texas Rules
				  of Civil Procedure, the Texas Rules of Evidence, and the SOAH procedural rules
				  do not apply. Nothing in this subsection shall preclude general application by
				  an ALJ of evidentiary principles addressed in the Texas Rules of Evidence as an
				  advisory tool in making evidentiary determinations in protests of the
				  comptroller's findings under Government Code, §
										403.302(g)
				  and (h).
(e) Except as otherwise provided by this
				  subchapter, the comptroller shall present its evidence and argument prior to
				  each petitioner. After each petitioner has presented its evidence and argument,
				  the comptroller shall be given the opportunity to present rebuttal evidence and
				  argument. The ALJ may otherwise establish the order of proceeding and is
				  responsible for closing the record.
(f) No party may offer documentary evidence
				  at the hearing that was not filed and served in accordance with the
				  requirements of this subchapter. No evidence may be submitted to SOAH on any
				  ground for objection of a protest of the comptroller's findings under
				  Government Code, §
										403.302(g)
				  and (h) except as identified and submitted by
				  the comptroller.
(g) Testimony of
				  witnesses shall be confined to the documentary evidence that has been timely
				  submitted pursuant to the terms of this subchapter and identified and submitted
				  to SOAH according to subsection (f) of this section.
(h) The following individuals are considered
				  qualified to testify in a hearing before SOAH conducted pursuant to this
				  subchapter: comptroller employees, chief appraisers, and individuals registered
				  as Class IV Appraisers with the Texas Department of Licensing and
				  Regulation.
(i) Argument shall be
				  confined to the evidence for the grounds for objection identified and submitted
				  by the comptroller and to the arguments of the other parties.
(j) Admissions, proposals, offers, or
				  agreements made or reached in the compromise of disputed issues prior to
				  referral to SOAH may not be admitted in a hearing. Admissions, proposals,
				  offers, or agreements made or reached in the compromise of disputed issues
				  regarding other protests or prior study years may not be admitted in a
				  hearing.
(k) Unless permitted by
				  the ALJ, no more than two representatives for each party shall present argument
				  and introduce evidence at a hearing.
(l) An attorney, agent or other
				  representative who appears at a protest hearing to argue and present evidence
				  on behalf of a petitioner shall not testify at the hearing.