Opinion ID: 1803887
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Administrative Procedure Act and ALJs

Text: Congress enacted the federal Administrative Procedure Act (hereinafter APA) in 1946. I KENNETH CULP DAVIS & RICHARD J. PIERCE, JR., ADMINISTRATIVE LAW TREATISE § 1.4, at 14 (3d ed.1994). The major effects of the APA were threefold: (1) to fulfill the political will for reform; (2) to improve and strengthen the administrative process; and (3) to maintain the basic limits on judicial review of administrative action. KENNETH CULP DAVIS, HANDBOOK ON ADMINISTRATIVE LAW § 2, at 9 (1951). The APA represented a compromise between those who believed the role of the hearing officer should be an integrated part of the process of executive branch enforcement, and those who believed hearing officers should follow a more formal judicial model. Jay S. Bybee, Agency Expertise, ALJ Independence, and Administrative Courts: The Recent Changes in Louisiana's Administrative Procedure Act, 59 La. L.Rev. 431, 443 (1999). Federal ALJs are under the control of the agencies that hired them. Id. at 444. In 1961, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws published the Model State Administrative Procedure Act, which was based upon the federal APA. Id. Louisiana's Administrative Procedure Act was adopted in 1967 and is based on this 1961 Model State Act. Id. at 444-45. The 1961 Model State Act made no recommendations regarding ALJs; consequently, Louisiana's first enactment of the LAPA Act included no reference to hearing officers. Id. Thus, prior to the recent amendment at issue, the original role of ALJs in the LAPA was implicit rather than explicit. Id. at 452. Additionally, ALJs were employed by their respective agencies in the executive branch of our government and worked exclusively for that agency. Id. at 431. In 1995, the legislature enacted Act 739, which created the Division of Administrative Law in the Department of State Civil Service. The Act provides that the DAL shall commence and handle all adjudications in the manner required by the LAPA, that the ALJ shall issue the final decision or order and the agency shall have no authority to override the decision or order, that the governor shall appoint, and the Senate confirm, a director for DAL, who, in turn, shall employ the ALJs, and that the current ALJs employed by the various affected agencies shall be transferred to and employed in the DAL. Additionally, Act 1332 of 1999 amended the law to provide that no agency or official thereof shall be entitled to judicial review of an adjudication.