The Senate Judiciary Committee heard HB 1223 on administrative law judges, sponsored by Sen. Head. The bill establishes the office of administrative law proceedings (office) within the state personnel department to hear certain administrative proceedings that result in a finding of fact determining the legal rights, duties, or privileges of a party after an opportunity for an evidentiary hearing and specifies the administrative proceedings over which the office has jurisdiction. The bill also provides a list of agencies over whose administrative proceedings the administrative law judges from the office do not preside and provides that the office shall have a director who is responsible for administering the office, hiring administrative law judges, and assigning administrative law judges to administrative proceedings.
The bill was amended by consent to provide that the director of the office of administrative law proceedings (office) has emergency rulemaking authority to implement a code of judicial conduct for administrative law judges, to add the state employees appeals commission to the list of exempted agencies, provide that an individual who does not meet the administrative law judge requirements for the office may be employed by the office if the individual previously served as an administrative law judge for an agency, and add to the definition of “administrative law judge” for purposes of an agency whose proceedings are not subject to the jurisdiction of the office. Representatives from the following organizations testified in support of the bill: Indiana Chamber of Commerce, Indiana Heath Care Association, Indiana Judges Association, Indiana State Bar Association, and Indiana Manufacturers Association. A representative from the Governor’s Office also testified in support of the bill. The amended bill passed 11-0.
Read the bill at http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2019/bills/house/1223