1. (a) A hearing shall be conducted by a hearing officer or officers appointed by the executive director or by the State Office of Administrative Hearings. Where more than one hearing officer is appointed to hear a particular matter, one of the hearing officers shall be designated by the executive director or by the State Office of Administrative Hearings as the presiding officer. The hearing officer or, in the case of multiple hearing officers, the presiding officer shall have authority to administer oaths, to examine witnesses, to rule on the admissibility of evidence and amendments to pleadings, to resolve all procedural questions, and to recess any hearing from day to day.
2. (b) If for any reason a hearing officer is unable to continue presiding over a pending hearing, the executive director or the State Office of Administrative Hearings may appoint another hearing officer who may perform any function remaining to be performed without the necessity of repeating any previous proceedings in the case.

Source Note:The provisions of this §1.28 adopted to be effective December 26, 1995, 20 TexReg 11035.