Authority: IC 8-2.1-18-6

Affected: IC 8-2.1-18

Sec. 14. (a) Relevant and material evidence is admissible subject to objection on other grounds, but there shall be excluded such evidence as is unduly repetitious or cumulative.

(b) Any participant shall move the admission of evidence into the record upon presentation of the sponsoring witness and authentication.

(c) The presiding officer shall have all necessary authority to control the receipt and admissibility of evidence, including:

1. (1) ruling on the admissibility of evidence; and

2. (2) confining the evidence to the issues in the proceeding and impose, where appropriate:

   1. (A) limitations on the number of witnesses to be heard;
   2. (B) limitations of time and scope for direct and cross-examinations;
   3. (C) limitations on the production of further evidence; and
   4. (D) any other necessary limitations.

The presiding officer shall actively employ these powers to direct and focus the proceedings consistent with due process.

(d)(1) Applications, complaints, orders to show cause and answers thereto and similar formal documents upon which hearings are fixed shall, without further action, be considered as part of the record as pleadings.

(2) Such pleadings, or any part thereof, shall not be considered as evidence of any fact which is in dispute.

(e) Except as otherwise provided in 170 IAC 1-1.2, when exhibits of a documentary character are offered in evidence, copies shall be furnished to the presiding officer and to the participants present at the hearing, unless the presiding officer otherwise directs. Additional copies of exhibits of documentary character may be required to be furnished as the presiding officer may direct.

(f) An offer to prove may be requested when a ruling has been made holding that the witness was not competent to testify or that the evidence to be offered as [sic.] inadmissible. An offer to prove also may be made when the presiding officer has sustained an objection to the admission of tangible evidence. If the proper evidence is tangible, it shall be marked for identification purposes and shall constitute the offer to prove. If the proper evidence is oral testimony, the offer to prove shall consist of a summary of the evidence which counsel contends would be adduced by such testimony. The presiding officer may also request a statement of the basis for admissibility of such evidence.

(Department of State Revenue; 45 IAC 16-1.5-14; filed Oct 21, 1986, 10:37 am: 10 IR 389) NOTE: Transferred from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (170 IAC 1-1.2-14) to the Department of State Revenue (45 IAC 16-1.5-14) by P.L.72-1988, SECTION 12, effective July 1, 1988.