Definitions; A To G - Mich. Comp. Laws Section 24.203

Sec. 3.

(1) "Adoption of a rule" means that step in the processing of a rule consisting of the formal action of an agency establishing a rule before its promulgation.

(2) "Agency" means a state department, bureau, division, section, board, commission, trustee, authority or officer, created by the constitution, statute, or agency action. Agency does not include an agency in the legislative or judicial branch of state government, the governor, an agency having direct governing control over an institution of higher education, the state civil service commission, or an association of insurers created under the insurance code of 1956, Act No. 218 of the Public Acts of 1956, being sections 500.100 to 500.8302 of the Michigan Compiled Laws, or other association or facility formed under Act No. 218 of the Public Acts of 1956 as a nonprofit organization of insurer members.

(3) "Contested case" means a proceeding, including rate-making, price-fixing, and licensing, in which a determination of the legal rights, duties, or privileges of a named party is required by law to be made by an agency after an opportunity for an evidentiary hearing. When a hearing is held before an agency and an appeal from its decision is taken to another agency, the hearing and the appeal are deemed to be a continuous proceeding as though before a single agency.

(4) "Committee" means the joint committee on administrative rules.

(5) "Court" means the circuit court.

(6) "Guideline" means an agency statement or declaration of policy which the agency intends to follow, which does not have the force or effect of law, and which binds the agency but does not bind any other person.