Code of Maine Rules
01 - DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, CONSERVATION AND FORESTRY
020 - AGRICULTURAL BARGAINING BOARD
Chapter 2 - CONDUCT OF PUBLIC HEARINGS
Section 020-2-6 - Evidence

A. Evidence which is relevant and material to the subject matter of the hearing and is of a type commonly relied upon by reasonably prudent persons in the conduct of their affairs shall be admissible. Evidence which is irrelevant, immaterial, or unduly repetitious shall be excluded.

B. Official Notice: The Board may, at any time, take official notice of relevant laws, official regulations, judicially recognizable facts, generally recognized facts of common knowledge to the general public and physical, technical, agricultural or scientific facts within its specialized knowledge. The Board shall include in its final decision those facts of which it took official notice, unless those facts are included in the transcript of the record.

C. Proof of Official Record: The Presiding Officer may require that an official record, or lack thereof, be evidenced by an official publication or by a copy or a statement attested by a person having, or who would ordinarily have, the legal custody of the record.

D. Documentary and Real Evidence: All documents, materials and objects offered in evidence as exhibits shall, if accepted, be numbered or otherwise identified. Documentary evidence may be received in the form of copies or excerpts if the original is not readily available.

E. Objections: All objections to rulings of the Presiding Officer regarding evidence or procedure and the grounds therefor shall be timely stated during the course of the hearing. If during the course of or after the close of the hearing and during its deliberations the Board determines that the ruling of the Presiding Officer was in error, it may reopen the hearing and take such other action as it deems appropriate to correct such error.