(a) The agency upon the agency’s motion may, and where provided by federal law or upon appeal by any party shall, review an initial order, except to the extent that:

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 4-5-315

  • 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
  • Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
  • 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
  • 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
  • Oral argument: An opportunity for lawyers to summarize their position before the court and also to answer the judges' questions.
  • 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
  • Person: means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, governmental subdivision, or public or private organization of any character, including another agency. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
  • Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
  • Rule: includes the establishment of a fee and the amendment or repeal of a prior rule. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • 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
(1) A statute or rule of the agency precludes or limits agency review of the initial order; or
(2) The agency in the exercise of discretion conferred by statute or rule of the agency:

(A) Determines to review some but not all issues, or not to exercise any review;
(B) Delegates its authority to review the initial order to one (1) or more persons; or
(C) Authorizes one (1) or more persons to review the initial order, subject to further review by the agency.
(b) A petition for appeal from an initial order shall be filed with the agency, or with any person designated for such purpose by rule of the agency, within fifteen (15) days after entry of the initial order. If the agency on its own motion decides to review an initial order, the agency shall give written notice of its intention to review the initial order within fifteen (15) days after its entry. The fifteen-day period for a party to file a petition for appeal or for the agency to give notice of its intention to review an initial order on the agency’s own motion shall be tolled by the submission of a timely petition for reconsideration of the initial order pursuant to § 4-5-317, and a new fifteen-day period shall start to run upon disposition of the petition for reconsideration. If an initial order is subject both to a timely petition for reconsideration and to a petition for appeal or to review by the agency on its own motion, the petition for reconsideration shall be disposed of first, unless the agency determines that action on the petition for reconsideration has been unreasonably delayed.
(c) The petition for appeal shall state its basis. If the agency on its own motion gives notice of its intent to review an initial order, the agency shall identify the issues that it intends to review.
(d) The person reviewing an initial order shall exercise all the decision-making power that the agency would have had to render a final order had the agency presided over the hearing, except to the extent that the issues subject to review are limited by rule or statute or by the agency upon notice to all parties.
(e) The agency shall afford each party an opportunity to present briefs and may afford each party an opportunity to present oral argument.
(f) Before rendering a final order, the agency may cause a transcript to be prepared, at the agency’s expense, of such portions of the proceeding under review as the agency considers necessary.
(g) The agency may render a final order disposing of the proceeding or may remand the matter for further proceedings with instructions to the person who rendered the initial order. Upon remanding a matter, the agency may order such temporary relief as is authorized and appropriate.
(h) A final order or an order remanding the matter for further proceedings pursuant to this section shall be rendered and entered in writing within sixty (60) days after receipt of briefs and oral argument, unless that period is waived or extended with the written consent of all parties or for good cause shown.
(i) A final order or an order remanding the matter for further proceedings under this section shall identify any difference between such order and the initial order, and shall include, or incorporate by express reference to the initial order, all the matters required by § 4-5-314(c).
(j) The agency shall cause copies of the final order or order remanding the matter for further proceedings to be delivered to each party and to the administrative judge or hearing officer who conducted the contested case.
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