(a)

1. (1) An adjudicative proceeding by the State Insurance Department shall begin from its issuance of a written Notice of Public Hearing (NOPH) mailed to a licensee that:

   1. (A) Sets out the date, time, and location of an administrative hearing; and
   2. (B) Provides sufficient facts and notice of allegations of violations of the Arkansas Insurance Code or the State Insurance Department’s administrative rules, allegedly committed by the licensee.
2. (2) The content of the NOPH shall otherwise comply with Arkansas Code § 25-15-208 and shall be mailed by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the licensee at its last reported address at the State Insurance Department.

3. (3)

   1. (A) The State Insurance Department advises licensees to maintain a current and accurate working address with the State Insurance Department to receive notices from the State Insurance Department.
   2. (B) Otherwise, the State Insurance Department shall consider that adequate notice was provided to the licensee of the NOPH at the licensee's last known address as reported to the State Insurance Department.
4. (4) A licensee subject to an NOPH shall be identified as a respondent.

(b) Timing of hearing.

1. (1) No hearing shall be conducted in less than ten (10) days from the respondent’s receipt of the NOPH unless there exists a public emergency as set out in 23 CAR § 43-213.
2. (2) Although it is not statutorily required to provide the following time frame, the State Insurance Department generally sets nonemergency hearings to occur within thirty (30) to forty-five (45) days of the anticipated receipt of the NOPH by the respondent.
3. (3) In the absence of statutory language explicitly referencing the time periods to be calculated upon working days, the timing of the hearing shall be provided upon a calendar day basis.
4. (4) Following receipt of the NOPH by the respondent, the respondent and the State Insurance Department may mutually agree to a rescheduled hearing date.

(c) Replies or responses to an NOPH.

1. (1) A respondent may, but is not required to, respond to an NOPH, either orally or in writing.
2. (2) The State Insurance Department, however, strongly encourages licensees receiving an NOPH to respond in writing to the State Insurance Department’s NOPH in order to provide an adequate record for acknowledgment that the respondent was notified of an administrative hearing, and, in addition, such oral or written response may provide for a consideration by the State Insurance Department as to the nature of any plausible or meritorious defenses to the allegations raised against the respondent by a complainant.
3. (3) Any such response to the NOPH should be submitted to the State Insurance Department within fifteen (15) working days of the respondent’s receipt of the NOPH.
4. (4) Formal rules of pleading are not required in any written reply to an NOPH.
5. (5) A written reply may be made in general narrative form, or it may admit or deny the averments or paragraphs in the NOPH.
6. (6) A respondent shall not be prejudiced by failing to respond to an NOPH.

(d) Hearing officer.

1. (1) In the NOPH, the State Insurance Department shall identify the hearing officer to preside over the adjudicative proceeding who may be the Insurance Commissioner or other duly appointed person.
2. (2) Within fifteen (15) days of receipt of the NOPH, a respondent may request the appointment of a substitute hearing officer in the event of conflict, bias, appearance of impropriety, or upon any other basis of disqualification that is sufficiently described and justified.
3. (3) In the event of conflict, the State Insurance Department may designate a hearing officer not employed by the State Insurance Department or by the Department of Commerce to act as hearing officer under Arkansas Code § 23-61-303(a)(3).
4. (4) In the event of a scheduling conflict with the originally designated hearing officer, the commissioner may appoint a substitute hearing officer, and the State Insurance Department shall promptly notify the respondent in writing of this change.