By Cuellar H.B. No. 2556
76R7679 JRD-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the State Office of Administrative Hearings.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 2003.021, Government Code, is amended by
1-5 amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsection (e) to read
1-6 as follows:
1-7 (a) The State Office of Administrative Hearings is a state
1-8 agency created to serve as an independent forum for the conduct of
1-9 adjudicative hearings in the executive branch of state government.
1-10 The purpose of the office is to separate the adjudicative function
1-11 from the investigative, prosecutorial, and policymaking functions
1-12 in the executive branch in relation to hearings that the office is
1-13 authorized to conduct.
1-14 (b) The office:
1-15 (1) shall conduct all administrative hearings in
1-16 contested cases under Chapter 2001 that are before a state agency
1-17 that does not employ an individual whose only duty is to preside as
1-18 a hearings officer over matters related to contested cases before
1-19 the agency;
1-20 (2) shall conduct administrative hearings in matters
1-21 for which the office is required to conduct the hearing under other
1-22 law;
1-23 (3) shall [and may] conduct alternative dispute
1-24 resolution procedures that the office is required to conduct under
2-1 law; and
2-2 (4) may conduct, for a fee and under a contract,
2-3 administrative hearings or alternate dispute resolution procedures
2-4 in matters voluntarily referred to the office by a governmental
2-5 entity.
2-6 (e) The office may adopt a seal to authenticate the official
2-7 acts of the office and of its administrative law judges.
2-8 SECTION 2. Section 2003.022, Government Code, is amended by
2-9 amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (c) and (d) to read
2-10 as follows:
2-11 (a) The office is under the direction of a chief
2-12 administrative law judge appointed by the governor for a two-year
2-13 term. The chief administrative law judge is eligible for
2-14 reappointment.
2-15 (c) The chief administrative law judge may not engage in the
2-16 practice of law while serving as chief administrative law judge.
2-17 The chief administrative law judge serves in a full-time position.
2-18 (d) The chief administrative law judge shall:
2-19 (1) supervise the office;
2-20 (2) protect and ensure the decisional independence of
2-21 each administrative law judge;
2-22 (3) adopt a code of conduct for administrative law
2-23 judges that may be modeled on the Code of Judicial Conduct; and
2-24 (4) monitor the quality of administrative hearings
2-25 conducted by the office.
2-26 SECTION 3. Section 2003.041, Government Code, is amended by
2-27 adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
3-1 (c) An administrative law judge employed by the office is
3-2 not responsible to or subject to the supervision, direction, or
3-3 indirect influence of any person other than the chief
3-4 administrative law judge or a senior or master administrative law
3-5 judge designated by the chief administrative law judge. In
3-6 particular, an administrative law judge employed by the office is
3-7 not responsible to or subject to the supervision, direction, or
3-8 indirect influence of an officer, employee, or agent of another
3-9 state agency who performs investigative, prosecutorial, or advisory
3-10 functions for the other agency.
3-11 SECTION 4. Subchapter C, Chapter 2003, Government Code, is
3-12 amended by adding Sections 2003.0411 and 2003.0412 to read as
3-13 follows:
3-14 Sec. 2003.0411. SENIOR AND MASTER ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES.
3-15 (a) The chief administrative law judge may appoint senior
3-16 administrative law judges to perform duties assigned by the chief
3-17 administrative law judge.
3-18 (b) To be appointed a senior administrative law judge, a
3-19 person must have at least six years of general legal experience,
3-20 must have at least five years of experience presiding over
3-21 administrative hearings or presiding over hearings as a judge or
3-22 master of a court, and must meet other requirements as prescribed
3-23 by the chief administrative law judge.
3-24 (c) To be appointed a master administrative law judge, a
3-25 person must have at least 10 years of general legal experience,
3-26 must have at least six years of experience presiding over
3-27 administrative hearings or presiding over hearings as a judge or
4-1 master of a court, and must meet other requirements as prescribed
4-2 by the chief administrative law judge.
4-3 Sec. 2003.0412. EX PARTE CONSULTATIONS. (a) Except as
4-4 provided by Subsection (b), the provisions of Section 2001.061
4-5 apply in relation to a matter before the office without regard to
4-6 whether the matter is considered a contested case under Chapter
4-7 2001.
4-8 (b) The provisions of Section 2001.061 do not apply to a
4-9 matter before the office to the extent that the office is
4-10 conducting an alternative dispute resolution procedure in relation
4-11 to the matter.
4-12 SECTION 5. Section 2003.045, Government Code, is amended to
4-13 read as follows:
4-14 Sec. 2003.045. OVERSIGHT OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES
4-15 [DIVISION]. The chief administrative law judge may designate
4-16 senior or master administrative law judges to oversee [An
4-17 administrative division in the office oversees] the training,
4-18 evaluation, discipline, and promotion of [all] administrative law
4-19 judges employed by the office.
4-20 SECTION 6. Section 2003.0451(a), Government Code, is amended
4-21 to read as follows:
4-22 (a) The office shall provide at least 30 hours of continuing
4-23 legal education and judicial training to each new administrative
4-24 law judge employed by the office who has less than three years of
4-25 presiding experience. The office shall provide the training
4-26 required by this subsection during the administrative law judge's
4-27 first year of employment with the office. The office may provide
5-1 the training through office personnel or through external sources,
5-2 including state and local bar associations, the Texas Center for
5-3 the Judiciary, and the National Judicial College. The training may
5-4 include the following areas:
5-5 (1) conducting fair and impartial hearings;
5-6 (2) ethics;
5-7 (3) evidence;
5-8 (4) civil trial litigation;
5-9 (5) administrative law;
5-10 (6) managing complex litigation;
5-11 (7) conducting high-volume proceedings;
5-12 (8) judicial writing;
5-13 (9) effective case-flow management;
5-14 (10) alternative dispute resolution methods; and
5-15 (11) other areas that the office considers to be
5-16 relevant to the work of an administrative law judge.
5-17 SECTION 7. Section 2003.046, Government Code, is amended to
5-18 read as follows:
5-19 Sec. 2003.046. CENTRAL HEARINGS PANEL. (a) A central
5-20 hearings panel in the office is composed of administrative law
5-21 judges and [six] senior or master administrative law judges
5-22 assigned to the panel [appointed] by the chief administrative law
5-23 judge.
5-24 (b) The [Under the direction of the] chief administrative
5-25 law judge may create teams or divisions within the central panel,
5-26 including an administrative license revocation division, according
5-27 to the subject matter or types of hearings conducted by [,] the
6-1 central panel [shall coordinate and supervise the operation of
6-2 administrative hearings conducted by the office].
6-3 SECTION 8. Section 2003.048, Government Code, is amended to
6-4 read as follows:
6-5 Sec. 2003.048. TEXAS NATURAL RESOURCE CONSERVATION
6-6 COMMISSION HEARINGS FEE. (a) This section applies only to the
6-7 extent the legislature does not appropriate money directly to the
6-8 office for services rendered by the office to the Texas Natural
6-9 Resource Conservation Commission.
6-10 (b) The office shall charge the Texas Natural Resource
6-11 Conservation Commission a fixed annual fee rather than an hourly
6-12 rate for services rendered by the office to the commission that is
6-13 consistent with any fee for the services that is established by
6-14 rider in the General Appropriations Act. [The office and the Texas
6-15 Natural Resource Conservation Commission shall negotiate the amount
6-16 of the fixed fee biennially, subject to the approval of the
6-17 governor, to coincide with the commission's legislative
6-18 appropriations request.]
6-19 SECTION 9. Section 2003.049(l), Government Code, is amended
6-20 to read as follows:
6-21 (l) The office shall charge the commission a fixed annual
6-22 fee rather than an hourly rate for services rendered by the utility
6-23 division to the commission that is consistent with any fee for the
6-24 services established by rider in the General Appropriations Act.
6-25 This subsection applies only to the extent the legislature does not
6-26 appropriate money directly to the office for services rendered by
6-27 the utility division to the commission. [The office and the
7-1 commission shall negotiate the amount of the fixed fee biennially,
7-2 subject to the approval of the governor, to coincide with the
7-3 commission's legislative appropriations request.]
7-4 SECTION 10. Subchapter C, Chapter 2003, Government Code, is
7-5 amended by adding Section 2003.051 to read as follows:
7-6 Sec. 2003.051. ROLE OF REFERRING AGENCY. A state agency
7-7 that has referred a matter to the office in which the office will
7-8 conduct a hearing may not take any adjudicative action relating to
7-9 the matter until the office has issued its proposal for decision or
7-10 otherwise concluded its involvement in the matter. The state
7-11 agency may exercise its advocacy rights in the matter before the
7-12 office in the same manner as any other party.
7-13 SECTION 11. The importance of this legislation and the
7-14 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-15 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-16 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-17 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
7-18 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
7-19 passage, and it is so enacted.