Kansas Statutes 77-514. Presiding officer
Terms Used In Kansas Statutes 77-514
- Agency head: means an individual or body of individuals in whom the ultimate legal authority of the state agency is vested by any provision of law. See Kansas Statutes 77-502
- Order: means a state agency action of particular applicability that determines the legal rights, duties, privileges, immunities or other legal interest of one or more specific persons. See Kansas Statutes 77-502
- Person: means an individual, partnership, corporation, association, political subdivision or unit thereof or public or private organization or entity of any character, and includes another state agency. See Kansas Statutes 77-502
- Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
- Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Kansas Statutes 77-201
- State agency: means any officer, department, bureau, division, board, authority, agency, commission or institution of this state, except the judicial and legislative branches of state government and political subdivisions of the state, which is authorized by law to administer, enforce or interpret any law of this state. See Kansas Statutes 77-502
(a) For all agencies, except for the state board of tax appeals, the agency head, one or more members of the agency head or a presiding officer assigned by the office of administrative hearings shall be the presiding officer.
(b) Any person serving or designated to serve alone or with others as presiding officer is subject to disqualification for administrative bias, prejudice or interest.
(c) Any party may petition for the disqualification of a person promptly after receipt of notice indicating that the person will preside or promptly upon discovering facts establishing grounds for disqualification, whichever is later.
(d) A person whose disqualification is requested shall determine whether to grant the petition, stating facts and reasons for the determination.
(e) If a substitute is required for a person who is disqualified or becomes unavailable for any other reason, any action taken by a duly appointed substitute for a disqualified or unavailable person is as effective as if taken by the latter.
(f) If the office of administrative hearings cannot provide a presiding officer, a state agency may enter into agreements with another state agency to provide presiding officers to conduct proceedings under this act.
(g) Notwithstanding any quorum requirements, if the agency head of a professional or occupational licensing agency is a body of individuals, the agency head, unless prohibited by law, may designate one or more members of the agency head to serve as presiding officer and to render a final order in the proceeding.
(h) Except as otherwise provided by law, in any proceeding under this act, a person shall not be eligible to act as presiding officer, and shall not provide confidential legal or technical advice to a presiding officer in the proceeding, if that person:
(1) Has served in an investigatory or prosecutorial capacity in the proceeding or a proceeding arising out of the same event or transaction; or
(2) is supervised or directed by a person who would be disqualified under paragraph (1).