Ex Parte Communications

Ex Parte Communications. A. There shall be no verbal communications by a party or his representative with the Board or its members regarding any issue of fact or law involved in an administrative appeal pending before the Board without notice and opportunity for all parties to participate. There shall also not be any written communication or electronic transmission by a party or his representative to the Board or its members regarding an issue of fact or law involved in an administrative appeal pending before the Board unless the written communication or electric transmission is also served on all parties in the administrative appeal. For purposes of this subsection, representative means not only the designated representative of a party in the administrative appeal, but anyone who is an officer or employee of a party or otherwise represents the party in any capacity at the time of the administrative appeal. B. Nothing in this section shall prevent a party or his designated representative from unilaterally seeking clarification of purely procedural matters, orally, in writing or by electronic transmission, by directing questions about same to the Executive Director. If the questions are directed to the Executive Director in writing or by electronic transmission, the party or his designated representative shall also serve a copy of same on all parties to the administrative proceeding. Nothing in this section shall prevent the Department and the Executive Director from communicating orally, in writing or by electronic transmission as provided in Rule 5.7 to obtain computations requested by the Board or other documentation or information necessary for the Executive Director to perform his duties including, but not limited to, drafting the Board’s orders.