A. General:

(1) At no time during the pendency of a case shall any party or any advocate, officer, agent, or employee of a party discuss the merits of the case with any commission member, commission counsel, commission secretary, or hearing officer, except as provided in Subsection B of this Section.

(2) Paragraph 1 of this Subsection shall not be construed to preclude:

(a) the disclosure of any information contained in the commission’s records to any person, including a party, so long as such information is not otherwise protected by law; nor

(b) the commission secretary or commission counsel from discussing individually with any party or any party’s advocate, procedural matters such as the scheduling of hearings and similar non-substantive issues, so long as no party is afforded preferential treatment in any such discussion.

B. Communications to be on the record: Any communication by a party with the commission, any commission member, the commission counsel, or the hearing officer relating to the merits of any case pending before the commission shall be:

(1) in open hearing; or

(2) in writing and in compliance with the format and service requirements set forth in Subpart II [now Sections 11.5.5.201 through 11.5.5.203 NMAC] of this Part.

[4/25/78, 1/1/94, 1/1/96; Recompiled 11/30/01]