The House Judiciary Committee heard HB 1003 on administrative law authored by Rep. Steuerwald and Rep. Jeter. The bill does the following:
- Makes the office of administrative law proceedings the ultimate authority in any administrative proceeding under its jurisdiction.
- Provides certain exceptions.
- Specifies when a state agency may be required to pay reasonable attorney’s fees for judicial review proceedings.
- Outlines procedures for the ultimate authority regarding nonfinal orders and procedures to file objections to final orders.
- Provides that the court shall decide all questions of law, including any interpretation of a federal or state constitutional provision, state statute, or agency rule, without deference to any previous interpretation made by the state agency.
- Requires the state agency to transmit the agency record to the court for judicial review.
- Eliminates the office of environmental adjudication and transfers proceedings to the office of administrative law proceedings.
- Makes conforming changes.
The bill was amended by consent to do the following:
- Creates requirements for administrative law judges that are assigned to certain environmental matters.
- Provides that the inability to obtain the record from the office of administrative law proceedings or ultimate authority within the time permitted is good cause.
- Provides that until the office of administrative law proceedings adopts or amends rules related to environmental matters, it must continue to follow and implement rules under 315 IAC.
- Requires the office of administrative law proceedings to continue to index and make publicly available, in a substantially similar online searchable format, the final orders of contested appeals currently maintained by the office.
The Indiana Office of Administrative Law Proceedings and Indiana Manufacturing Association testified without a position on the bill. The Indiana Chamber of Commerce, Indiana State Bar Association Environmental Section, Association of Indiana Counties, Pacific Legal Foundation, and a member of the public testified in support. The Indiana Pork Producers Association, Indiana State Poultry Association, Indiana Dairy Producers, Indiana Corn Growers Association, Indiana Soybean Alliance, and Indiana Farm Bureau testified in opposition of the bill. The amended bill passed 11-0.
Read the bill at https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2024/bills/house/1003