As used in the Governmental Dispute Prevention and Resolution Act:

A. "agency" means the state and its agencies, departments, boards, instrumentalities or institutions that are insured by the division;

B. "alternative dispute resolution" means a process other than litigation used to prevent or resolve disputes, including mediation, facilitation, regulatory negotiation, settlement conferences, binding and nonbinding arbitration, fact-finding, conciliation, early neutral evaluation and policy dialogues;

C. "council" means the alternative dispute prevention and resolution advisory council;

D. "department" means the general services department;

E. "division" means the risk management division of the department;

F. "interested party" means a person having or anticipating a dispute with any agency, or a representative of that person;

G. "neutral party" means a person who is trained to provide services as a mediator, arbitrator, facilitator, fact-finder or conciliator who aids parties to prevent or resolve disputes;

H. "office" means the bureau known as the office of alternative dispute prevention and resolution in the division; and

I. "public facilitation" means collaboration with identified stakeholders concerning public policy issues, including policy dialogues and other techniques to seek consensus, reconcile differences or prevent disputes from arising in the development or implementation of public administration issues.

History: Laws 2000, ch. 65, § 2; 2007, ch. 206, § 2.

The 2007 amendment, effective July 1, 2007, eliminated political subdivisions of the state from the definition of "agency", added Subsections C through F and H and I, and defined "neutral party" as a person who is trained to provide dispute prevention and resolution services.