Chapter 92-1 RULES OF GENERAL APPLICABILITY
| (1) |
The Georgia
Bureau of Investigation is Comprised of four divisions: Administrative
Division, Investigative Division, Forensic Sciences Division and the Georgia
Crime Information Center Division. |
| (2) |
The mailing address of the Georgia Bureau
of Investigation is 1001 International Boulevard, Suite 800, Hapeville, Georgia
30354. |
| (3) |
All legal notices and
all notices and correspondence reflecting administrative proceedings should be
directed to the Director, Georgia Bureau of Investigation. |
The following definitions shall apply generally to all rules
and regulations of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation:
| (a) |
"Board" shall mean the Board of Public
Safety of the State of Georgia. |
| (b) |
"Director" shall mean the Director of the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation. |
| (c) |
"Bureau" shall
mean the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. |
| (d) |
"Hearing" shall mean a right of the
Bureau and of parties affected by any action of the Bureau to present either
formally or informally, relevant information, testimony, documents, evidence
and arguments as to why such action should or should not be taken. |
| (e) |
"Hearing Examiner" or "Hearing Officer"
or "Reviewing Officer" shall mean an officer or employee of the Bureau or other
person so designated by the Director or the Board who shall be employed or
appointed by the Director for purpose as needed and shall be authorized to
exercise such powers as are given such persons by statute or rule. |
| (1) |
Any person whose legal rights will be
interfered with or impaired by the application of any statutory provision or
any rule, or order of the Bureau may petition the Bureau and request a
declaratory ruling thereon. The Bureau will not render advisory opinions,
resolve questions which have become moot or are abstract or hypothetical, or
otherwise act hereunder except with respect to such actual controversies or
other cases upon which a superior court would be required to act under the
Georgia declaratory judgment statutes as construed by the appellate courts of
Georgia. |
| (2) |
Each such petition
shall be filed with the Bureau in writing and shall state:
| (a) |
The name and post office address of the
petitioner; |
| (b) |
The full text of
the statute, rule or order upon which a ruling is requested; |
| (c) |
A paragraphed statement of all pertinent
and existing facts necessary to a determination of the applicability of the
quoted statute or rule; |
| (d) |
The
petitioner's contention, if any, as to the aforesaid applicability with
citations of legal authorities, if any, which authorize, support or require a
decision in accordance therewith; |
| (e) |
A statement setting forth in detail the
petitioner's interest in the matter and why and how the petitioner is uncertain
or insecure with respect to his rights. The petition shall be verified under
oath by, or in proper behalf of, the petitioner. |
|
| (3) |
If the Bureau shall determine that a
decision can be rendered on the face of the petition without further
proceedings, the Bureau shall render a summary decision thereon. Otherwise,
parties shall be notified and the matter shall be heard in an informal
hearing. |
| (4) |
The provisions of this
rule shall not be construed to preclude:
| (a) |
Any person from requesting the Bureau to interpret or otherwise rule upon the
applicability of any pertinent statute or rule informally by personal
appearance before the Bureau by letter or telegram to the Bureau or any officer
or member thereof; or |
| (b) |
The
Bureau from acting upon any such request as and when it deems appropriate or
from issuing any interpretive ruling without petition therefor. |
|
| (5) |
Any request presented in any
manner other than in accordance with the provisions of these rules shall not be
deemed to be filed as a Petition for Declaratory Ruling but shall be deemed an
informal request for interpretation or ruling and shall be acted on as
such. |
| (1) |
Each petition for adoption of rules made pursuant to the Georgia Administrative
Procedures Act shall be filed with the Bureau in writing and shall state:
| (a) |
The name and post office address of the
petitioner; |
| (b) |
The full text of
the rule requested to be amended or repealed, or the full text of the rule
desired to be promulgated; |
| (c) |
A
paragraphed statement of the reason such rule should be amended, repealed or
promulgated, including a statement of all pertinent existing facts as to the
petitioner's interest in the matter. |
| (d) |
Citations of legal authorities, if any,
which authorize, support or require the action requested by petitioner. The
petition should be verified under oath, or in proper behalf of, the
petitioner. |
|
| (2) |
Upon
receipt of the petition, the Director or the chief executive of any division or
divisions of the Bureau which might be affected by action taken pursuant to the
petitioner's request, and the Board if the rule involves its policy-making
function, shall decide upon the action to be taken. Within sixty (60) days,
after receipt of the petition, the Bureau shall inform the petitioner by mail
of the decision reached, and shall either decline to take the action requested,
stating its reasons for so declining, or shall initiate rule-changing
proceedings in accordance with the Georgia Administrative Procedures
Act. |
The hearing and appeal procedures provided for in the Georgia
Administrative Procedures Act shall be followed in cases which are directed by
statute to be conducted pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act.
Contested cases heard pursuant to the Georgia Administrative Procedures Act
shall be conducted in accordance with the procedures provided herein and the
following procedure:
| (a) |
Any person
who is legally entitled to contest a ruling or order of the Bureau may do so by
filing with the Bureau a request for hearing which shall contain the following:
| 1. |
A title which indicates the nature of the
proceedings; |
| 2. |
The complete name
and address of the party filing the request; |
| 3. |
The name and address of all other
interested parties; |
| 4. |
A clear and
concise statement of the facts upon which the contested case arises; |
| 5. |
A prayer setting forth the relief
sought; |
| 6. |
If the party filing the
request is represented by counsel, the name and address of counsel. |
|
| (b) |
The Bureau will grant hearings
as a matter of right only upon timely receipt of a request therefor as
described in (a) above, but may, at its discretion, allow extensions of time
and amendments of requests for good cause shown. |
| (c) |
Any application to the Bureau to enter
any order to take any action after the filing of a request for hearing shall be
by motion which, unless made during a hearing, shall be made in writing, shall
state specifically the grounds therefor, and shall set forth the action or
order sought. No motion shall be ruled upon except when the entire case is
ruled upon unless the moving party specifically requests a hearing at some
other time and the agency deems such ruling appropriate. |
| (d) |
Hearings in all contested cases shall be
conducted before a hearing officer appointed by the Bureau. Upon conclusion of
the hearing, the hearing officer shall prepare an initial decision, a copy of
which shall be mailed to the party requesting the hearing. |
| (e) |
The practice and proceedings for securing
agency review of an initial decision of a hearing officer shall be as follows:
| 1. |
Requests for agency review shall be
submitted in writing to the Bureau within thirty days from the date of the
initial decision. No hearing shall be held if requested thereafter except where
events uncontrollable by the aggrieved party are shown to have prevented a
timely request. In this regard, the decision of the agency shall be
final. |
| 2. |
A party desiring agency
review may submit to the agency written arguments, briefs and motions within
the same limitations as prescribed for a request for agency review. On agency
review, the appealing party shall not present arguments, briefs or motions to
the agency except in writing as herein prescribed. |
| 3. |
The agency decision on agency review shall
be based solely on the record developed before the hearing officer and such
arguments, briefs and motions as have been submitted in accordance with (b)
above. No evidence will be received by the agency in any form. |
| 4. |
If the party requesting agency review
desires that the agency consider matters which are not a part of the record,
the agency should be requested to remand the matter to the hearing officer for
receipt of such additional evidence. Remands for the purpose of receiving
additional evidence shall be granted only if deemed by the agency to be
justified upon a showing that the evidence was not available at the time of the
hearing, through no fault of the party requesting the remand, and could not
have been made available by the exercise of reasonable diligence. |
|
| (f) |
Agency review shall be
conducted by the Director in all cases which do not require an exercise of the
policy-making functions of the Bureau. All cases which do require an exercise
of the policy-making functions of the Bureau shall be reviewed by the Board.
| 1. |
Cases in which agency review shall be
given by the Director include, but are not limited to, those arising under
Georgia Laws 1977, pp. 1164, 1168, as amended, (Ga. Code Ann. Chapter
91-A-63A). |
| 2. |
The Director may, if
he determines that conduct of agency review in any case in which he is the
designated reviewing agency may involve exercise of a policy-making function,
refer such case to the Board for agency review. |
| 3. |
The agency may dispose of the case in any
of the following ways:
| (i) |
Affirm the initial
decision of the hearing officer and adopt his findings and/or conclusions as is
deemed appropriate; |
| (ii) |
Adopt a
new decision based on the record; |
| (iii) |
Remand the case to the hearing officer
for such further proceeding as the agency may order; |
| (iv) |
Reverse the hearing officer's decision
and enter such order in the case as is deemed appropriate. |
|
|
| (g) |
Motions to reconsider an
agency decision or ruling must be received at Georgia Bureau of Investigation
Headquarters within ten (10) days after the decision or ruling is
rendered. |
