§ 28-32-51 — Witnesses - Immunity

3. "Agency head" means an individual or body of individuals in whom the ultimate legal
authority of the agency is vested by law.
4. "Commission" means the North Dakota ethics commission established by article XIV of
the Constitution of North Dakota.
5. "Complainant" means any person who files a complaint before an administrative
agency pursuant to section 28-32-21 and any administrative agency that, when
authorized by law, files such a complaint before such agency or any other agency.
6. "Hearing officer" means any agency head or one or more members of the agency
head when presiding in an administrative proceeding, or, unless prohibited by law, one
or more other persons designated by the agency head to preside in an administrative
proceeding, an administrative law judge from the office of administrative hearings, or
any other person duly assigned, appointed, or designated to preside in an
administrative proceeding pursuant to statute or rule.
7. "License" means a franchise, permit, certification, approval, registration, charter, or
similar form of authorization required by law.
8. "Order" means any agency action of particular applicability which determines the legal
rights, duties, privileges, immunities, or other legal interests of one or more specific
persons. The term does not include an executive order issued by the governor.
9. "Party" means each person named or admitted as a party or properly seeking and
entitled as of right to be admitted as a party. An administrative agency may be a party.
In a hearing for the suspension, revocation, or disqualification of an operator's license
under title 39, the term may include each city and each county in which the alleged
conduct occurred, but the city or county may not appeal the decision of the hearing
officer.
10. "Person" includes an individual, association, partnership, corporation, limited liability
company, the commission, a state governmental agency or governmental subdivision,
or an agency of such governmental subdivision.
11. "Relevant evidence" means evidence having any tendency to make the existence of
any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the administrative action more
probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence.
12. "Rule" means the whole or a part of an agency or commission statement of general
applicability which implements or prescribes law or policy or the organization,
procedure, or practice requirements of the agency or commission. The term includes
the adoption of new rules and the amendment, repeal, or suspension of an existing
rule. The term does not include:
a. A rule concerning only the internal management of an agency or the commission
which does not directly or substantially affect the substantive or procedural rights
or duties of any segment of the public.

b. A rule that sets forth criteria or guidelines to be used by the staff of an agency or
the commission in the performance of audits, investigations, inspections, and
settling commercial disputes or negotiating commercial arrangements, or in the
defense, prosecution, or settlement of cases, if the disclosure of the rule would:
(1) Enable law violators to avoid detection;
(2) Facilitate disregard of requirements imposed by law; or
(3) Give a clearly improper advantage to persons who are in an adverse
position to the state.
c. A rule establishing specific prices to be charged for particular goods or services
sold by an agency.
d. A rule concerning only the physical servicing, maintenance, or care of
agency-owned, agency-operated, commission-owned, or commission-operated
facilities or property.
e. A rule relating only to the use of a particular facility or property owned, operated,
or maintained by the state or any of its subdivisions, if the substance of the rule is
adequately indicated by means of signs or signals to persons who use the facility
or property.
f. A rule concerning only inmates of a correctional or detention facility, students
enrolled in an educational institution, or patients admitted to a hospital, if adopted
by that facility, institution, or hospital.
g. A form whose contents or substantive requirements are prescribed by rule or
statute or are instructions for the execution or use of the form.
h. An agency or commission budget.
i. An opinion of the attorney general.
j. A rule adopted by an agency selection committee under section 54-44.7-03.
k. Any material, including a guideline, interpretive statement, statement of general
policy, manual, brochure, or pamphlet, which is explanatory and not intended to
have the force and effect of law.