§ 173.7 Hearing and recommended decision.

(a) The Presiding Officer shall:

(1) Conduct a fair and impartial hearing, without unnecessary delay;

(2) Ensure that the facts are fully elicited; and

(3) Consider all evidence, comment, and argument which is submitted by persons who will be affected by the outcome of the proceeding and which is not irrelevant, immaterial, unduly repetitious, or otherwise unreliable or of little probative value. The Presiding Officer may require any prospective witness to make available, in advance of the hearing, a brief summary of his or her testimony.

(b) If, following the close of the hearing, the Presiding Officer finds that the State has corrected, or has agreed in writing to correct, the deficiencies specified in the notice of intent to rescind or has shown that such deficiencies do not exist, the Presiding Officer shall issue a decision recommending that the notice of intent to rescind be withdrawn and that the rescission proceeding be terminated.

(c) If, following the close of the hearing, the Presiding Officer finds that the State has not corrected the deficiencies in its program, the Presiding Officer shall issue a decision recommending that the State's primary enforcement responsibility for pesticide use violations be rescinded in whole or in part.

(d) The recommended decision of the Presiding Officer shall become final Agency action forty-five (45) days after its service upon the parties and without further proceedings unless (1) an appeal to the Administrator is taken from it by a party to the proceeding, or (2) the Administrator elects, sua sponte, to review the recommended decision.