I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 5177

To establish the Administrative Law Judge Conference of the United States,

and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 14, 2000

Mr. GEKAS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on the Judiciary

A BILL

To establish the Administrative Law Judge Conference of

the United States, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Administrative Law

5 Judge Conference of the United States Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that—

8 (1) in order to promote efficiency, productivity,

9 and the improvement of administrative functions, to

10 enhance public service and public trust in the admin-
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1 istrative resolution of disputes, and to enhance the

2 enforcement of the administrative law provisions of

3 title 5, United States Code, the Administrative Law

4 Judge Conference of the United States should be es5 tablished;

6 (2) the existing system of agency assignments

7 of administrative law judges appointed under section

8 3015 of title 5, United States Code, will be en9 hanced, by creating the Administrative Law Judge

10 Conference of the United States and will serve the

11 public with maximum economy and efficiency; and

12 (3) the Administrative Law Judge Conference

13 of the United States will enhance judicial perform14 ance, status, and legal training of administrative law

15 judges by establishing initial and continuing edu16 cation programs, studying the adjudication system,

17 and reporting annually to Congress.

18 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

19 JUDGE CONFERENCE OF THE UNITED

20 STATES.

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 5 of title 5, United

22 States Code, is amended by adding at the end thereof the

23 following new subchapter:
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1 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER VI—THE ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

2 JUDGE CONFERENCE OF THE UNITED STATES

3 ‘‘§ 597. Definitions

4 ‘‘For the purposes of this subchapter—

5 ‘‘(1) the term ‘agency’ means an authority re6 ferred to in section 551(l);

7 ‘‘(2) the term ‘Conference’ means the Adminis8 trative Law Judge Conference of the United States

9 established under section 598;

10 ‘‘(3) the term ‘administrative law judge’ means

11 an administrative law judge appointed under section

12 3105 before or after the effective date of this sub13 chapter; and

14 ‘‘(4) the term ‘chief judge’ means the chief ad15 ministrative law judge appointed and serving under

16 section 599.

17 ‘‘§ 598. Establishment; membership

18 ‘‘There is established the Administrative Law Judge

19 Conference of the United States consisting of all adminis20 trative law judges appointed under section 599A.

21 ‘‘§ 599. Chief administrative law judge

22 ‘‘(a) APPOINTMENT; TERM; PAY.—The chief admin23 istrative law judge shall be the chief administrative officer

24 and presiding judge of the Conference. The chief judge

25 shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice
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1 and consent of the Senate. The chief judge shall have

2 served as an administrative law judge for at least 5 years

3 immediately before the date of appointment. The term of

4 office of the chief judge shall be 5 years or, after expira5 tion of 5 years, until a successor is appointed and qualifies

6 to serve. A chief judge may be reappointed by the Presi7 dent, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate,

8 for 1 additional term upon the expiration of the first term

9 of such judge. The chief judge shall be paid at the rate

10 of 105 percent of basic pay for level IV of the Executive

11 Schedule.

12 ‘‘(b) POWERS OF THE CHIEF JUDGE.—The chief

13 judge shall—

14 ‘‘(1) enhance and develop the administrative

15 law process and the administrative law judge func16 tion;

17 ‘‘(2) develop training programs, in coordination

18 with the agencies, to promote judicial education, spe19 cialization, and efficiency of administrative law

20 judges;

21 ‘‘(3) consult with agencies and the Office of

22 Management and Budget regarding resources nec23 essary to support administrative law judge functions;

24 ‘‘(4) study instances when administrative law

25 judges are directed by an agency not to follow deci-
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1 sions of Federal circuit courts of appeal because of

2 nonacquiescence by the agency for which the judge

3 presides and report the findings to the President

4 and the Congress; and

5 ‘‘(5) make rules and procedures to implement

6 the functions of the Conference. The chief judge

7 shall make an annual written report to the President

8 and the Congress including recommendations to im9 prove the administrative adjudicative process.

10 ‘‘(d) TRANSFER.—All functions of the Office of Per11 sonnel Management with respect to administrative law

12 judges are transferred to the Conference.

13 ‘‘§ 599A. Administrative law judge

14 ‘‘(a) ASSIGNMENT TO AGENCIES.—After selection for

15 appointment to the position of administrative law judge

16 by an agency, the administrative law judge shall be as17 signed by the chief judge to such agency for the adjudica18 tion of cases for the agency. Each administrative law

19 judge appointed at the time of the date of enactment of

20 this section shall be assigned to the agency the administra21 tive law judge was assigned to at the time of the date

22 of enactment of this section. Subsequent assignments of

23 the administrative law judge shall be made with the con24 sent of the administrative law judge and the appointing

25 agency.
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1 ‘‘(b) AGENCIES.—Each agency with assigned admin2 istrative law judges shall be responsible to provide for all

3 budget, resources and support requirements for each ad4 ministrative law judge assigned to the agency.

5 ‘‘(c) APPOINTMENT OF AGENCY CHIEF JUDGES.—

6 The chief administrative law judge of each agency shall

7 be appointed by the agency head.

8 ‘‘§ 599B. Jurisdiction

9 ‘‘(a) REFERRAL OF CASES BY COURTS.—With the

10 approval of the agency to whom the administrative law

11 judge is assigned, courts are authorized to refer cases, or

12 portions thereof, to an administrative law judge to act as

13 a special master pursuant to the provisions of Rule 53(a)

14 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or otherwise to

15 make findings of fact in a case on behalf of the referring

16 court, which shall continue to have exclusive and

17 undiminished jurisdiction over the case. When a court has

18 referred a case to an administrative law judge, the rec19 ommendations, rulings, and findings of fact of the admin20 istrative law judge are subject to de novo review by the

21 referring court. The court shall provide for reimbursement

22 to the agency involved for costs relating to the administra23 tive law judge referral.

24 ‘‘(b) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—The provisions of this sub25 chapter shall effect no change in—
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1 ‘‘(1) any agency’s rulemaking, interpretative, or

2 policy making authority in carrying out the statutory

3 responsibilities vested in the agency or agency head;

4 ‘‘(2) the adjudicatory authority of administra5 tive law judges; or

6 ‘‘(3) the authority of an agency to review deci7 sions of administrative law judges under any appli8 cable provision of law.

9 ‘‘§ 599C. Standards of conduct

10 ‘‘The chief judge, after providing notice and a period

11 for comment, shall adopt and issue rules of judicial con12 duct for administrative law judges, consistent with the

13 Model Code of Judicial Conduct for administrative law

14 judges (American Bar Association, 1989). An administra15 tive law judge may not be removed, suspended, rep16 rimanded, or disciplined except as provided in section

17 7521. The rules of judicial conduct for administrative law

18 judges shall provide for a voluntary alternative dispute

19 resolution process that shall be conducted at the request

20 of the administrative law judge.’’.

21 (b) SATISFACTION OF OTHER PROCEDURAL RE22 QUIREMENTS.—Compliance with subchapter VI of chapter

23 5 of title 5, United States Code, as added by subsection

24 (a), shall satisfy all requirements imposed under section
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1 916 of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and

2 Enforcement Act of 1989.

3 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is

4 authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 for fiscal year

5 2000 for the Administrative Law Judge Conference of the

6 United States.

7 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections

8 for chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code, is amended

9 by adding at the end thereof the following:

‘‘SUBCHAPTER VI—THE ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE

CONFERENCE OF THE UNITED STATES

‘‘597. Definitions.

‘‘598. Establishment; membership.

‘‘599. Chief administrative law judge.

‘‘599A. Administrative law judges.

‘‘599B. Jurisdiction.

‘‘599C. Standards of conduct.’’.

10 SEC. 4. TRANSITION PROVISIONS.

11 (a) TRANSFERS.—There shall be transferred to the

12 Administrative Law Judge Conference of the United

13 States established under section 598 of title 5, United

14 States Code, the personnel, property, unexpended balances

15 of appropriations, allocations, and other funds employed

16 and held by the Office of Personnel Management and re17 lating to the administrative law function administered by

18 the Office of Personnel Management. Appropriations, au19 thorizations, allocations, and other funds paid or trans20 ferred by agencies to the Office of Personnel Management

21 for the administration of the administrative law judge
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1 function shall, after the date of the enactment of this Act,

2 be paid or transferred to the Conference.

3 (b) COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS.—Col4 lective bargaining agreements, relating to personnel trans5 ferred by subsection (a), shall remain in effect according

6 to the terms thereof.

7 (c) DISPUTES.—The Director of the Office of Man8 agement and Budget, at such time or times as the Direc9 tor may provide, shall make such determinations as may

10 be necessary with regard to any dispute arising from the

11 transfer of personnel or assets by subsection (a).

12 SEC. 5. OPERATION OF THE CONFERENCE.

13 Operation of the Administrative Law Judge Con14 ference of the United States established under section 598

15 of title 5, United States Code, shall commence on the date

16 the first chief judge of the Conference takes office under

17 section 599 of such title.

18 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

19 Except as otherwise provided, this Act and the

20 amendments made by this Act shall take effect 120 days

21 after the date of the enactment of this Act.

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