(a)Conferences.--The presiding officer shall have the authority to hold one or more prehearing conferences during the course of the proceeding on his own motion or at the request of a party to the proceeding. The presiding officer shall normally hold at least one prehearing conference in proceedings where the issues are complex or where it appears likely that the hearing will last a considerable period of time. In addition to other matters which the commission may prescribe by rule, the presiding officer at a prehearing conference may direct the parties to exchange their evidentiary exhibits and witness lists prior to the hearing. Where good cause exists, the parties may at any time amend, by deletion or supplementation, their evidentiary exhibits and witness lists.
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(a) Conferences.--The presiding officer shall have the authority to hold one or more prehearing conferences during the course of the proceeding on his own motion or at the request of a party to the proceeding. The presiding officer shall normally hold at least one prehearing conference in proceedings where the issues are complex or where it appears likely that the hearing will last a considerable period of time. In addition to other matters which the commission may prescribe by rule, the presiding officer at a prehearing conference may direct the parties to exchange their evidentiary exhibits and witness lists prior to the hearing. Where good cause exists, the parties may at any time amend, by deletion or supplementation, their evidentiary exhibits and witness lists.
(b) Depositions.--A party to the proceeding shall be able to take depositions of witnesses upon oral examination or written questions for purposes of discovering relevant, unprivileged information, subject to the following conditions:
(1) The taking of depositions shall normally be deferred until there has been at least one prehearing conference.
(2) The party seeking to take a deposition shall apply to the presiding officer for an order to do so.
(3) The party seeking to take a deposition shall serve copies of the application on the other party or parties to the proceedings, who shall be given an opportunity, along with the deponent, to notify the presiding officer of any objections to the taking of the deposition.
(4) The presiding officer shall not grant an application to take a deposition if he finds that the taking of the deposition would result in undue delay.
(5) The presiding officer shall otherwise grant an application to take a deposition unless he finds that there is not good cause for doing so.
(6) The deposing of a commission employee shall only be allowed upon an order of the presiding officer based on a specific finding that the party applying to take the deposition is seeking significant, unprivileged information not discoverable by alternative means. Any such order shall be subject to an interlocutory appeal to the commission.
(7) An order to take a deposition shall be enforceable through the issuance of a subpoena ad testificandum.
(c) Disclosure of information on witnesses.--At the prehearing conference or at some other reasonable time prior to the hearing, which may be established by commission rule, each party to the proceeding shall make available to the other parties to the proceeding the names of the witnesses he expects to call and the subject matter of their expected testimony. Where good cause exists, the parties shall have the right at any time to amend, by deletion or supplementation, the list of names of the witnesses they plan to call and the subject matter of the expected testimony of those witnesses.
(d) Interrogatories.--Any party to a proceeding may serve written interrogatories upon any other party for purposes of discovering relevant, unprivileged information. A party served with interrogatories may, before the time prescribed either by commission rule or otherwise for answering the interrogatories, apply to the presiding officer for the holding of a prehearing conference for the mutual exchange of evidence exhibits and other information. Each interrogatory which requests information not previously supplied at a prehearing conference or hearing shall be answered separately and fully in writing under oath, unless it is objected to, in which event the reasons for the objections shall be stated in lieu of an answer. The party upon whom the interrogatories have been served shall serve a copy of the answers and objections within a reasonable time, unless otherwise specified, upon the party submitting the interrogatories. The party submitting the interrogatories may petition the presiding officer for an order compelling an answer to an interrogatory or interrogatories to which there has been an objection or other failure to answer. The commission shall designate an appropriate official, other than the Director of Trial Staff or any other employee of the Office of Trial Staff, on whom other parties to the proceeding may serve written interrogatories directed to the commission. That official shall arrange for agency personnel with knowledge of the facts to answer and sign the interrogatories on behalf of the commission. Interrogatories directed to the commission shall be allowed only upon an order of the commission based upon a specific finding that the interrogating party is seeking significant, unprivileged information not discoverable by alternative means. When participating in a commission proceeding, the Office of Trial Staff shall be subject to the same rules of discovery applicable to any other party to the case.
(e) Requests for admissions.--A party to a proceeding may serve upon any other party and upon the commission to the same extent permissible in subsection (d) a written request for the admission, for purposes of the pending proceeding and to conserve hearing time, of any relevant, unprivileged, undisputed facts, the genuineness of any document described in the request, the admissibility of evidence, the order of proof and other similar matters.
(f) Subpoena duces tecum.--A party to a proceeding may obtain in accordance with commission rules a subpoena duces tecum requiring the production of or the making available for inspection, copying or photographing of relevant necessary designated documents at a prehearing conference or other specific time and place.
(g) Scheduling.--The presiding officer shall have the authority to impose schedules on the parties to the proceeding specifying the periods of time during which the parties may pursue each means of discovery available to them under the rules of the commission. Such schedules and time periods shall be set with a view to accelerating disposition of the case to the fullest extent consistent with fairness.
(h) Certification of interlocutory appeals.--Except as provided in subsection (b)(6), an interlocutory appeal from a ruling of the presiding officer on discovery shall be allowed only upon certification by the presiding officer that the ruling involves an important question of law or policy which should be resolved at that time. Notwithstanding the presiding officer's certification, the commission shall have the authority to dismiss summarily the interlocutory appeal if it should appear that the certification was improvident. An interlocutory appeal shall not result in a stay of the proceedings except upon a finding by the presiding officer and the commission that extraordinary circumstances exist.
(i) Protective orders.--The presiding officer shall have the authority, upon motion by a party or by the person from whom discovery is sought, and for good cause shown, to make any order, subject to the rules of the commission, which justice requires to protect the party or person.
(j) Other subpoenas.--The presiding officer shall have the power in accordance with commission rules to issue subpoenas ad testificandum and duces tecum at any time during the course of the proceeding.