(a) Petitions for discretionary review.

(1) Review by the DOT decisionmaker pursuant to this section is not a matter of right but is at the sole discretion of the DOT decisionmaker. Any party may file and serve a petition for discretionary review by the DOT decisionmaker of an initial decision or recommended decision within twenty-one (21) days after service thereof, unless the DOT decisionmaker sets a different period for filing.

(2) Petitions for discretionary review shall be filed only upon one or more of the following grounds:

(i) A finding of a material fact is erroneous;

(ii) A necessary legal conclusion is without governing precedent or is a departure from or contrary to law, the Department's rules, or precedent;

(iii) A substantial and important question of law, policy or discretion is involved; or

(iv) A prejudicial procedural error has occurred.

(3) Each issue shall be separately numbered and plainly and concisely stated. Petitioners shall not restate the same point in repetitive discussions of an issue. Each issue shall be supported by detailed citations of the record when objections are based on the record, and by statutes, regulations or principal authorities relied upon. Any matters of fact or law not argued before the administrative law judge, but that the petitioner proposes to argue on brief to the DOT decisionmaker, shall be stated.

(4) Petitions for discretionary review shall be self-contained and shall not incorporate by reference any part of another document. Except by permission of the DOT decisionmaker, petitions shall not exceed twenty (20) pages including appendices and other papers physically attached to the petition.

(5) Requests for oral argument on petitions for discretionary review will not be entertained by the DOT decisionmaker.

(b) Answers. Within fifteen (15) days after service of a petition for discretionary review, any party may file and serve an answer of not more than fifteen (15) pages in support of or in opposition to the petition. If any party desires to answer more than one petition for discretionary review in the same proceeding, he or she shall do so in a single document of not more than twenty (20) pages.

(c) Orders declining review. The DOT decisionmaker's order declining to exercise the discretionary right of review will specify the date upon which the administrative law judge's decision shall become effective as the final decision of the Department. A petition for reconsideration of a Department order declining review will be entertained only when the order exercises, in part, the DOT decisionmaker's discretionary right of review, and such petition shall be limited to the single question of whether any issue designated for review and any issue not so designated are so inseparably interrelated that the former cannot be reviewed independently or that the latter cannot be made effective before the final decision of the Department in the review proceeding.

(d) Review proceedings.

(1) The DOT decisionmaker may take review of an initial or recommended decision upon petition or on his or her own initiative or both. The DOT decisionmaker will issue a final order upon such review without further proceedings on any or all the issues where he or she finds that matters raised do not warrant further proceedings.

(2) Where the DOT decisionmaker desires further proceedings, he or she will issue an order for review that will:

(i) Specify the issues to which review will be limited. Only those issues specified in the order shall be argued on brief to the DOT decisionmaker, pursuant to §302.35, and considered by the DOT decisionmaker;

(ii) Specify the portions of the administrative law judge's decision, if any, that are to be stayed as well as the effective date of the remaining portions thereof; and

(iii) Designate the parties to the review proceeding.