(a) After a presiding officer (other than the Commission) has been designated to conduct a hearing proceeding, and until he or she has issued an initial decision or certified the record to the Commission for decision, or the proceeding has been transferred to another presiding officer, all motions, petitions and other matters that may arise during the proceeding shall be acted upon by such presiding officer, except those which are to be acted upon by the Commission. See §1.291(a)(1) of this chapter.

(b) Any question which would be acted upon by the presiding officer if it were raised by the parties to the proceeding may be raised and acted upon by the presiding officer on his or her own motion.

(c) Any question which would be acted upon by the presiding officer (other than the Commission) may be certified to the Commission on the presiding officer's own motion.

(d) Except for actions taken during the course of a hearing and upon the record thereof, actions taken by a presiding officer pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be recorded in writing and filed in the official record of the proceeding.

(e) The presiding officer may waive any rule governing the conduct of Commission hearings upon motion or upon the presiding officer's own motion for good cause, subject to the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act and the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.

(f) The presiding officer may issue such orders and conduct such proceedings as will best conduce to the proper dispatch of business and the ends of justice.

(g)

(1) For program carriage complaints filed pursuant to §76.1302 of this chapter that the Chief, Media Bureau refers to a presiding officer for an initial decision, the presiding officer shall release an initial decision in compliance with one of the following deadlines:

(i) 240 calendar days after a party informs the presiding officer that it elects not to pursue alternative dispute resolution as set forth in §76.7(g)(2) of this chapter; or

(ii) If the parties have mutually elected to pursue alternative dispute resolution pursuant to §76.7(g)(2) of this chapter, within 240 calendar days after the parties inform the presiding officer that they have failed to resolve their dispute through alternative dispute resolution.

(2) The presiding officer may toll these deadlines under the following circumstances:

(i) If the complainant and defendant jointly request that the presiding officer toll these deadlines in order to pursue settlement discussions or alternative dispute resolution or for any other reason that the complainant and defendant mutually agree justifies tolling; or

(ii) If complying with the deadline would violate the due process rights of a party or would be inconsistent with fundamental fairness; or

(iii) In extraordinary situations, due to a lack of adjudicatory resources available at the time.

[85 FR 63171, Oct. 6, 2020]