(a) An agency with statutory authority to decide a contested case shall render a final order.
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 4-5-314

  • Administrative judge: means an agency member, agency employee or employee or official of the office of the secretary of state, licensed to practice law and authorized by law to conduct contested case proceedings pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
  • Agency: means each state board, commission, committee, department, officer, or any other unit of state government authorized or required by any statute or constitutional provision to make rules or to determine contested cases. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
  • Contested case: means a proceeding, including a declaratory proceeding, in which the legal rights, duties or privileges of a party are required by any statute or constitutional provision to be determined by an agency after an opportunity for a hearing. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Hearing officer: means an agency member, agency employee or employee or official of the office of the secretary of state, not licensed to practice law, and authorized by law to conduct a contested case proceeding pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
  • Order: means an agency action of particular applicability that determines the legal rights, duties, privileges, immunities or other legal interests of a specific person or persons. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
  • Party: means each person or agency named or admitted as a party, or properly seeking and entitled as of right to be admitted as a party. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
  • Policy: means any statement, document, or guideline prepared or issued by any agency pursuant to its delegated authority that merely defines or explains the meaning of a statute or a rule. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
  • Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
  • written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) If an administrative judge or hearing officer hears a case alone under § 4-5-301(a)(2), the administrative judge or hearing officer shall render an initial order, which shall become a final order unless reviewed in accordance with § 4-5-315.
(c) A final order, initial order or decision under § 50-7-304 shall include conclusions of law, the policy reasons therefor, and findings of fact for all aspects of the order, including the remedy prescribed and, if applicable, the action taken on a petition for stay of effectiveness. Findings of fact, if set forth in language that is no more than mere repetition or paraphrase of the relevant provision of law, shall be accompanied by a concise and explicit statement of the underlying facts of record to support the findings. The final order, initial order or decision must also include a statement of the available procedures and time limits for seeking reconsideration or other administrative relief and the time limits for seeking judicial review of the final order. An initial order or decision shall include a statement of any circumstances under which the initial order or decision may, without further notice, become a final order.
(d) Findings of fact shall be based exclusively upon the evidence of record in the adjudicative proceeding and on matters officially noticed in that proceeding. The agency member’s experience, technical competence and specialized knowledge may be utilized in the evaluation of evidence.
(e) If an individual serving or designated to serve as an administrative judge, hearing officer or agency member becomes unavailable, for any reason, before rendition of the final order or initial order or decision, a substitute shall be appointed as provided in § 4-5-302. The substitute shall use any existing record and may conduct any further proceedings as is appropriate in the interest of justice.
(f) The administrative judge or hearing officer may allow the parties a designated amount of time after conclusion of the hearing for the submission of proposed findings.
(g) Unless the period is waived or extended with the written consent of all parties or for good cause shown, a final order rendered under subsection (a) or an initial order rendered under subsection (b) must be rendered in writing within ninety (90) days of:

(1) The filing of the tape recording, stenographic notes or symbols, or transcript of the hearing, if requested on the record by the administrative judge or hearing officer, or the filing of the proposed findings in accordance with subsection (f). If both are filed, then the order must be rendered within ninety (90) days of the latter filing; or
(2) The completion of the hearing, if neither of the filings in subdivision (g)(1) are requested by the administrative judge or hearing officer.
(h) The agency shall cause copies of the final order under subsection (a) and the administrative judge or hearing officer shall cause copies of the initial order under subsection (b) to be delivered to each party.
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