Sec. 3. 24 MRSA §2853, sub-§7, as amended by PL 1991, c. 505, §4, is further amended to read:

7. Extensions of time. All requests for extension of time under this subchapter must be made to the panel chair. The chair may extend any time period under this subchapter for good cause, except that the chair may not extend any time period that would result in the hearing being held more than one year 6 months from the filing of notice of claim upon the clerk unless good cause is shown.

Sec. 4. 24 MRSA §2854, as amended by PL 1989, c. 361, §§7 and 10, is repealed and the following enacted in its place:

§2854.__Hearing or presentation

1.__Procedure.__The claimant or a representative of the claimant shall present the case before the panel.__The person accused of professional negligence or that person's representative shall make a responding presentation.__The chair shall determine whether the presentations are to be made in writing or orally in a hearing before the panel.__The procedures are as follows.

A.__When a hearing is held, the proceedings are informal and the Maine Rules of Evidence do not apply.

B.__The chair may not permit discovery or perpetuation of testimony in the proceedings other than depositions of the parties, except upon special order of the chair for good cause shown demonstrating extraordinary circumstances.

C.__The chair shall make all procedural rulings, and the rulings are final.

D.__A tape recorded record must be maintained by the panel.__ Except as provided in section 2857, the record may not be made public and the hearings may not be public without the consent of all parties.

E.__A party does not have the right to cross-examine or rebut or to demand that the customary formalities of civil trials and court proceedings be followed.

F.__Evidence must be admitted if it is the kind of evidence upon which reasonable persons are accustomed to rely in the conduct of serious affairs.__The panel shall make its