Opinion ID: 1366072
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Petitioners' Theories

Text: Deciding whether a proceeding is a contested case does not depend on the kind of hearing the agency actually conducted; the appropriate analysis is whether the proceeding qualified as a contested case under the APA. Patton v. St. Bd. Higher Ed., 293 Or. 363, 647 P.2d 931 (1982). In response to a question from this court, the parties submitted memoranda on their interpretations of contested cases as defined ORS 183.310(2)(a). Respondents asserted that this case is not included in any of the four categories of contested cases listed therein. Petitioners counter that this case falls into the categories described in ORS 183.310(2)(a)(A) and (D). Specifically, they contend that the textbook statute gives students a right to a certain standard of quality in textbooks and that the federal constitution bestows on them the right to be free from government interference with access to expressive materials. These are, according to petitioners, individual legal rights, duties or privileges which can be determined only after a contested case hearing. Alternatively, petitioners argue that the Board has provided by rule a hearing substantially of the character required in a contested case. We agree with respondents that petitioners themselves do not come within the terms of any part of ORS 183.310(2)(a). The legislature charged the Board with setting standards and evaluating texts for compliance before approval; it did not, however, grant to any individual the right or power to compel the Board to act. If petitioners were seeking access to expressive material, their claim of constitutional right might have force. See Va. Pharmacy Bd. v. Va. Consumer Council, 425 U.S. 748, 96 S.Ct. 1817, 48 L.Ed.2d 346 (1976) (holding that consumers may assert their First Amendment protections against a state licensing board's rule prohibiting pharmacists from advertising the price of prescription drugs); see also Board of Education v. Pico, 457 U.S. 853, 861-62, 102 S.Ct. 2799, 73 L.Ed.2d 435 (1982) (a plurality of the Supreme Court prohibited a school board from banning books from a public school library, finding the ban violative of the students' constitutional right to receive information). However, petitioners do not seek access to expressive material; they seek to prevent its dissemination. Even in the absence of constitutional or statutory individual rights, a refusal to    issue a license is an independent basis for a contested case hearing, upon the applicant's demand. ORS 183.310(2)(a)(C). The publisher, as the applicant seeking agency approval    required by law to pursue any commercial activity, trade, occupation or profession, ORS 183.310(4), could demand a contested case hearing, if the Commission had recommended and the Board was contemplating rejecting a text. But subsection (C) does not entitle petitioners, who are not applicants or licensees, to a contested case hearing. Ordinarily, government's approval of a party's request to be permitted to pursue an activity need not be preceded by contested case proceedings. [11] Further, we disagree with petitioners that the Board's rule, OAR 581-11-070, provides a hearing substantially of the character required in a contested case, thus entitling them to such proceedings under ORS 183.310(2)(a)(D). An agency may oblige itself to contested case hearings if it identifies certain persons as parties separate from the general public, if it provides for a record of testimony and evidence from the parties that is subject to rebuttal and cross-examination, and if it binds itself to make a decision on the basis of evidence in the record. See ORS 183.415 to .470. But the hearing contemplated by the Board's rule does not have these essential characteristics. The rule says only that challengers to adoption of a text may have an opportunity to be heard before the Board makes its decision. OAR 158-11-070(1). This could mean an opportunity as limited as submission of written views on a proposed decision. Or, in order to ensure its accountability to the public, an agency may proceed, as the Board did here, with a public hearing format so that persons may be heard and hear others in person with oral testimony. But this format does not require that all testimony and evidence be tested for relevance and truthfulness and challenged by cross-examination as would occur at a contested case hearing. With respect to the present decision, ORS 337.055 requires only that the Board reject any text that does not meet its criteria and guidelines to the degree determined by the Board. The Board may have a responsibility to explain in its order whether a particular text does so, but the basis for its decision is not limited, either by statute or rule, to an evidentiary record. Petitioners contentions are not well taken.