Definitions

Section 1 Section 1.10  Definitions a)         In addition to the definitions set forth in Sections 1-10 through 1-85 of the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 127, pars. 1001-10 through 1001-85), the following terms shall have the meanings specified: "Administrative action" includes every form and kind of act, including the refusal or failure to act, involved in the implementation of the laws administered by the Department of Agriculture. "Administrative file" means a file maintained by the Illinois Department of Agriculture in which documents pertaining to an administrative proceeding or action are retained. "Administrative proceeding" means any undertaking to issue, amend or revoke a regulation or order, or to take or refrain from taking any other form of administrative action. A public hearing conducted by or before a departmental advisory board or a statutorily established advisory board will be considered an administrative proceeding of the Department. "Department" or "Department of Agriculture" means the Department of Agriculture of the State of Illinois. "Department advisory board" or "department advisory committee" means any committee, board, commission, council, conference, panel, task force, or other similar group, or any subcommittee or other subgroup thereof that is not composed wholly of full-time officers or employees of the Illinois Department of Agriculture and is established or utilized by the Department of Agriculture to obtain advice or recommendations. "Director" means the Director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture. "Formal administrative proceeding" means an adjudicatory procedure conducted by the Department in accordance with the authority of a law administered by the Department, the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act, and Subpart B of this Part in which the individual legal rights, duties or privileges of a party are required by law to be determined by an agency and which places specific requirements (such as, time deadlines and content of administrative record) on the Department and/or on an individual. "Laws administered by the Department of Agriculture" means all the statutory provisions with respect to which authority has been delegated to the Illinois Department of Agriculture. Laws administered by the Department of Agriculture are listed in 2 Ill. Adm. Code 700. "Meeting" means any oral discussion between two or more persons. "Petition" means any petition or other document requesting the Director to establish, amend or revoke a regulation or order or to take or refrain from taking any other form of administrative action under the laws administered by the Department of Agriculture. Illustration A of this Part sets forth the form and information for a petition.  In order for any other document to be accepted as a petition, it must contain language stating it is a petition and information necessary for the Department to make a determination on the requested action. Requests, suggestions and recommendations made informally in routine correspondence received by the Illinois Department of Agriculture do not constitute a petition. "Statutory advisory board" or "statutory advisory committee" means any committee, board, commission, council, panel, conference, task force, or other similar group, or any subcommittee or other subgroup thereof, that is statutorily established and whose powers and duties or purposes are statutorily set. b)         Words in the singular form shall be deemed to include the plural, words in the masculine form shall be deemed to include the feminine form, and vice versa, as the case may require.