Sec. 26. (a) After the notices and the text of an agency’s proposed rule are published under sections 23 and (if applicable) 24 of this chapter, the agency shall conduct a public hearing on the proposed rule.

     (b) The agency shall convene the public hearing on the date and at the time and place stated in its notices and include an option for remote attendance.

     (c) The agency may conduct the public hearing in any informal manner that allows for an orderly presentation of comments and avoids undue repetition. However, the agency shall afford any person attending the public hearing an adequate opportunity to comment on the agency’s proposed rule through the presentation of oral and written facts or argument.

     (d) The agency may recess the public hearing and reconvene it on a different date or at a different time or place by:

(1) announcing the date, time, and place of the reconvened public hearing in the original public hearing before its recess; and

(2) recording the announcement in the agency’s record of the public hearing.

     (e) An agency that complies with subsection (d) is not required to give any further notice of a public hearing that is to be reconvened.

As added by P.L.31-1985, SEC.15. Amended by P.L.249-2023, SEC.24.