(a) A party, within fifteen (15) days after entry of an initial or final order, may file a petition for reconsideration, stating the specific grounds upon which relief is requested. A petition for reconsideration of a final order that has become a final order by operation of law when no party timely filed a petition for reconsideration of an initial order or when the petition for reconsideration of an initial order was denied is not permitted. The filing of a petition for reconsideration is not a prerequisite for seeking administrative or judicial review.
(b) The petition shall be disposed of by the same person or persons who rendered the initial or final order, if available.
(c) The person or persons who rendered the initial or final order that is the subject of the petition, shall, within twenty (20) days of receiving the petition, enter a written order either denying the petition, granting the petition and setting the matter for further proceedings; or granting the petition and issuing a new order, initial or final, in accordance with § 4-5-314. If no action has been taken on the petition within twenty (20) days, the petition shall be deemed to have been denied.
(d) An order granting the petition and setting the matter for further proceedings shall state the extent and scope of the proceedings, which shall be limited to argument upon the existing record, and no new evidence shall be introduced unless the party proposing such evidence shows good cause for such party’s failure to introduce the evidence in the original proceeding.
(e) The sixty-day period for a party to file a petition for review of a final order shall be tolled by granting the petition and setting the matter for further proceedings, and a new sixty-day period shall start to run upon disposition of the petition for reconsideration by issuance of a final order by the agency.