Presiding officer.

7—2506.6(17A) Presiding officer. 2506.6(1) Any party that wants an administrative law judge employed by the department of inspections, appeals, and licensing to serve as the presiding officer must file a request. The deadline for that request is 20 days after service of a notice of hearing that identifies someone other than an administrative law judge as the presiding officer. 2506.6(2) The agency or its designee may deny the request for any of the reasons set forth in Iowa Code section 17A.11(1)“a.” 2506.6(3) The agency or its designee is obligated to issue a written ruling specifying the grounds for its decision within 20 days after a request for an administrative law judge is filed. 2506.6(4) Except as otherwise prohibited by law, all final rulings by an administrative law judge acting as presiding officer are subject to appeal to the agency. A party is obligated to seek any available appeal to the agency in order to exhaust available administrative remedies. 2506.6(5) Except as otherwise set forth in law, heads of agencies and members of governmental agencies, when reviewing a proposed decision upon appeal to the agency, have the powers and duties of this chapter applicable to presiding officers. [ARC 0190D, IAB 4/1/26, effective 5/6/26]