ORDERS:
ORDER OF DISMISSAL
By notice filed with the court on September 5, 2007, the Petitioner withdrew his request for a contested case hearing. However, as a result of some subsequent communications between the parties memorialized in a letter filed with the court on September 6, 2007 that demonstrated some apparent confusion on the part of the Petitioner, the court nonetheless convened the contested case hearing in this matter as previously scheduled on September 11, 2007. The Petitioner did not appear. The court therefore deems that the Petitioner has withdrawn his request for a contested case hearing in this matter. Accordingly, it is hereby
ORDERED that this matter is dismissed.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
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PAIGE J. GOSSETT
Administrative Law Judge
A newly enacted statute, to be codified at S.C. Code Ann. § 12-60-3312, provides: “Except as otherwise provided by law or proper judicial order, all proceedings and records of a contested case hearing of the Administrative Law Court of a matter covered by the South Carolina Revenue Procedures Act are open to the public.” See 2007 Act No. 110, § 6 (eff. June 21, 2007) and 2007 Act No. 116, § 12 (eff. June 28, 2007) (amending Article 13, Chapter 60, Title 12 of the 1976 Code to add § 12-60-3312). Section 12-60-3312 further provides that this section “applies to all tax decisions and associated information filed of record, whether or not the decision in the contested case hearing was issued before, on, or after [the effective date of the Act].” Prior to the enactment of § 12-60-3312, the practice of the Administrative Law Court (“ALC”) was to refer to petitioners in contested tax matters as “Anonymous Taxpayer” pursuant to S.C. Code Ann. § 12-54-240(A) and to list them as such in the caption of the case. The caption in this matter is hereby amended to reflect that, pursuant to § 12-60-3312, ALC proceedings and records involving challenges to proposed tax assessments are no longer confidential. |