NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY
1967 SESSION

CHAPTER 930
SENATE BILL 425

AN ACT TO PRESCRIBE RULES OF EVIDENCE IN PROCEEDINGS BEFORE STATE ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES.

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

Section 1.  Chapter 143 of the General Statutes is amended by adding thereto a new Article which shall be designated "Article 33A" and shall read as follows:
"Article 33A
Rules of Evidence in Administrative Proceedings Before State Agencies
§ 143-317.  Definitions. As used in this Article,
(1)	'Administrative agency' means any State authority, board, bureau, commission, committee, department, or officer authorized by law to make administrative decisions, except those agencies in the legislative and judicial departments of government, the North Carolina Utilities Commission, the North Carolina Industrial Commission, the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina, and the institutions and agencies that operate pursuant to Chapters 115, 115A, and 116 of the General Statutes.
(2)	'Proceeding' shall mean any proceeding, by whatever named called, before an administrative agency of the State, wherein the legal rights, duties, or privileges of specific parties are required by law or by constitutional right to be determined after an opportunity for agency hearing.
(3)	'Party' means each person or agency named or admitted as a party, or properly seeking and entitled as of right to be admitted as a party.
§ 143-318.  Rules of Evidence Official Notice. In all proceedings.
(1)	Incompetent, irrelevant, immaterial, unduly repetitious, and hearsay evidence shall be excluded. The rules of evidence as applied in the Superior and District Court Divisions of the General Court of Justice shall be followed.
(2)	Documentary evidence may be received in the form of copies or excerpts, if the original is not readily available. Upon request, parties shall be given an opportunity to compare the copy with the original.
(3)	Notice may be taken of judicially cognizable facts. In addition, notice may be taken of generally recognized technical or scientific facts within the agency's specialized knowledge. Parties shall be notified either before or during the hearing, or by reference in preliminary reports or otherwise, of the material noticed, including any staff memoranda or data, and they shall be afforded an opportunity to contest the material so noticed. The agency's experience, technical competence, and specialized knowledge may be utilized in the evaluation of the evidence."
Sec. 2.  All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.
Sec. 3.  This Act shall take effect upon its ratification.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 27th day of June, 1967.