SECTION 605:10-1-3. Appeal of administrative decisions; procedures

(a)   Unless specifically provided for elsewhere in this Chapter, any adverse administrative action or decision rendered by the Commission, its staff on behalf of the Commissionor a third party contract vendor, may be appealed by the adversely affected party filing within thirty (30) days of notice of such action or decision, a written request for a hearing.

(b)   Upon receipt of a request for any non-disciplinary hearing provided for in this Section, or any other rule of this Chapter, the Secretary-Treasurer shall schedule an administrative decision hearing before a Hearing Examiner, a selected panel of the Commission, or the Commission as a whole giving at least fifteen (15) days notice of such hearing. Such hearing shall be public except that upon motion, witnesses, other than the adversely affected appealing party, may be excluded from the hearing room when such witnesses are not testifying. A court reporter shall be present to record the proceedings in behalf of the Commission. Any person desiring a copy of the transcript of the proceedings may purchase such from the reporter.

(c)   In the case of a proceeding conducted by the Commission as a whole or a panel of the Commission, the Chairman or his designee shall preside. Designated counsel shall advise the chair as to rulings upon the questions of admissibility of evidence, competence of witnesses and any other question of law where such ruling is required or requested.

(d)   The appealing party may present his or her own evidence or may present such through his or her counsel. In order that the hearing will not be encumbered by evidence having no bearing on the issues, testimony by all witnesses will be limited to matters relevant to the issues involved.

(e)   The order of procedure shall be as follows:

(1)   Recitation of the administrative action or decision.

(2)   Presentation of the adversely affected party's appeal.

(3)   Questioning of the appealing party by the hearing panel or Hearing Examiner.

(4)   Response by the Commission or Commission representatives detailing grounds for and basis for the administrative decision or action.

(5)   Examination of witnesses by appealing party with cross-examination of such witnesses.

(6)   Closing statements by the appealing party.

(f)   If the case is heard by the Commission as a whole, the Commission shall deliberate and render its decision with confirmation of such decision in writing in the form of an Order distributed to all parties by mail.

(g)   In the case of a hearing conducted by a Hearing Examiner or a panel of the Commission, following the hearing, the Hearing Examiner or attorney sitting as counsel to the panel of the Commission shall prepare a recommended Order to be considered by the Real Estate Commission as a whole at a future meeting. All parties will be furnished copies of the recommended Order and notified as to the date the recommendations will be considered by the Commission for adoption. At the same time, notice will be given also to the parties that written exceptions or requests to present oral exceptions or arguments, if any, should be submitted on or before a designated date pursuant to Section 311, Title 75, Oklahoma Statutes. Upon adoption of the recommended Order by the Commission as a whole, such Order shall be distributed to all parties.

[Source: Amended at 15 Ok Reg 3322, eff 7-13-98; Amended at 29 Ok Reg 1402, eff 7-1-12]