# Title 54 — State Government

## Chapter 54-57 — Office of Administrative Hearings

### § 54-57-01. Office of administrative hearings - Agency defined - Administrative agency

defined.
1. A state office of administrative hearings is created.
2. The office is under the direction of a director of administrative hearings who must be
free of any association that would impair the director's ability to function officially in a
fair and objective manner. The director must be an attorney at law in good standing,
admitted to the bar in this state, and currently licensed by the state board of law
examiners. The director of administrative hearings must be appointed by the governor
and confirmed by the senate and shall hold office for a term of six years, the term
beginning July first of the year of appointment and ending June thirtieth of the sixth
calendar year after appointment.
3. The director of administrative hearings may preside as an administrative law judge at
administrative hearings and may employ or appoint additional administrative law
judges to serve in the office as necessary to fulfill the duties of office as described in
section 54-57-04 and section 28-32-31 and to provide administrative law judges to
preside at administrative hearings as requested by agencies. The director of
administrative hearings may employ or appoint only such additional administrative law
judges who are attorneys at law in good standing, admitted to the bar in the state, and
currently licensed by the state board of law examiners. Administrative law judges
employed by the director before August 1, 1995, need not be attorneys at law and may
be designated by the director to preside at any administrative proceedings or
adjudicative proceedings under section 54-57-03. The director may delegate to an
employee the exercise of a specific statutory power or duty as deemed advisable,
subject to the director's control, including the powers and duties of a deputy director.
All administrative law judges must be classified employees, except that the director of
administrative hearings must be an unclassified employee who only may be removed,
during a term of office, for cause. Each administrative law judge must have a
demonstrated knowledge of administrative practices and procedures and must be free
of any association that would impair the person's ability to function officially in a fair
and objective manner.
4. The director of administrative hearings may employ the necessary support staff
required by the office. Support staff must be classified employees.
5. The director of administrative hearings shall develop categories of positions in the
classified service under class titles for the appointment or employment of
administrative law judges and support staff in consultation with and approved by the
director of North Dakota human resource management services, including the salary
to be paid for each position or category of position.
6. The director shall file a report with the governor and the state advisory council for
administrative hearings not later than the first day of December of each odd-numbered
year. The report must provide information regarding all administrative hearings
conducted by the office of administrative hearings during the previous biennium. The
report must provide information regarding meeting case processing guidelines for each
agency, the cost of hearings for each agency, the decisions issued for each agency,
and the results of the office of administrative hearings' service survey.
7. In this chapter, unless the context or subject matter otherwise requires, "agency"
means each board, bureau, commission, department, or other administrative unit of
the executive branch of state government whether headed by an appointed or elected
official.
8. In this chapter, unless the context or subject matter otherwise requires, "administrative
agency" means that term as defined in section 28-32-01.

### § 54-57-02. Temporary administrative law judges.

When regularly appointed administrative law judges are not available, the director of
administrative hearings may contract on a temporary basis with qualified individuals to serve as
administrative law judges for the office of administrative hearings. Temporary administrative law
judges are not employees of the state.
### § 54-57-03. Hearings before administrative law judges.

1. Notwithstanding the authority granted in chapter 28-32 allowing agency heads or other
persons to preside in an administrative proceeding, all adjudicative proceedings of
administrative agencies under chapter 28-32, except those of the public service
commission, the industrial commission, the insurance commissioner, the department
of water resources, the department of transportation, job service North Dakota, and
the labor commissioner, must be conducted by the office of administrative hearings in
accordance with the adjudicative proceedings provisions of chapter 28-32 and any
rules adopted pursuant to chapter 28-32. But, appeals hearings pursuant to section
resources pursuant to chapter 61-32 must be conducted by the office of administrative
hearings. Additionally, hearings of the department of corrections and rehabilitation for
the parole board in accordance with chapter 12-59, regarding parole violations; job
discipline and dismissal appeals to the board of higher education; Individuals With
Disabilities Education Act and section 504 due process hearings of the superintendent
of public instruction; and chapter 37-19.1 veterans' preferences hearings for any
agency must be conducted by the office of administrative hearings in accordance with
applicable laws.
2. The agency head shall make a written request to the director requesting the
designation of an administrative law judge to preside for each administrative
proceeding or adjudicative proceeding to be held.
3. Informal disposition of an administrative proceeding or adjudicative proceeding may be
made by an agency at any time before or after the designation of an administrative law
judge from the office of administrative hearings.
4. If a party to an administrative proceeding or adjudicative proceeding is in default, the
agency may issue a default order and a written notice of default, including a statement
of the grounds for default, prior to the hearing. The agency shall determine all the
issues involved. If issued, the default notice and order must be served upon all the
parties and the administrative law judge, if one has been designated to preside. After
service of the default notice and order, if a hearing is necessary to complete the
administrative action with or without the participation of the party in default, an
administrative law judge from the office of administrative hearings must preside.
5. When designating administrative law judges to preside in an administrative proceeding
or adjudicative proceeding, the director shall attempt to assign an administrative law
judge having expertise in the subject matter to be dealt with.
6. The director of administrative hearings may assign an administrative law judge to
preside in an administrative proceeding or adjudicative proceeding, upon request, to
any agency exempted from the provisions of this section, to any agency, or part of any
agency, that is not an administrative agency subject to the provisions of chapter 28-32,
to any unit of local government in this state, to any tribal government in this state, to
the judicial branch, or to any agency to conduct a rulemaking hearing.
### § 54-57-03.1. Hearings after judgment.

The office of administrative hearings may not hold hearings on the same issue involving the
same parties as the original hearing after a judgment has been rendered by a court concerning
that issue unless authorized to or directed to by that court.

### § 54-57-04. Duties of administrative law judges.

All administrative law judges shall comply with the duties of hearing officers under section
hearings of administrative agencies not under chapter 28-32, in accordance with applicable
laws.
### § 54-57-05. Uniform rules of administrative practice or procedure - Effective date -

Administrative law judge rules.
1. The director of administrative hearings shall adopt, in accordance with chapter 28-32,
rules of administrative hearings practice or procedure which implement chapter 28-32
and which aid in the course and conduct of all administrative hearings and related
proceedings conducted by administrative agencies under chapter 28-32. The uniform
rules must be used by all administrative agencies subject to chapter 28-32 which do
not have their own rules of administrative hearings practice or procedure governing the
course and conduct of hearings. If an administrative agency's rules are silent on any
aspect of the agency's administrative hearings practice or procedure, the applicable
uniform rule governs.
2. The director of administrative hearings may adopt rules to further establish
qualifications for administrative law judges; to establish procedures for requesting and
designating administrative law judges; and to facilitate the performance of duties and
responsibilities conferred by this chapter. Any rules adopted by the director of
administrative hearings pursuant to this subsection must be adopted in accordance
with chapter 28-32.
### § 54-57-06. Transfer and transition provisions.

Repealed by S.L. 1995, ch. 313, § 14.
### § 54-57-07. Compensation for provision of administrative law judges - Special fund

established - Continuing appropriation.
1. The office of administrative hearings shall require payment for services rendered by
any administrative law judge provided by it to any agency, to any unit of local
government in this state, to any tribal government in this state, or to the judicial
branch, in the conduct of an administrative hearing and related proceedings, and those
entities must make the required payment to the office. Payment must include payment
for support staff necessary to render administrative law judge services. Moneys
received by the office of administrative hearings in payment for providing an
administrative law judge to conduct an administrative hearing and related proceedings
must be deposited into the operating fund of the office of administrative hearings.
2. The office of administrative hearings shall require payment for mileage, meals, and
lodging in connection with services rendered by an administrative law judge provided
to any agency, to any unit of local government in this state, to any tribal government in
this state, or to the judicial branch, in the conduct of an administrative hearing and
related proceedings, and those entities must make the required payment to the office.
Payment for meals and lodging must be in the amounts allowable under section
### § 44-08-04. Payment for mileage when using state vehicles must be in amounts set for

user charges under section 24-02-03.5. All other payments must be in amounts
allowed for other state officials and employees. Either general fund or special fund
moneys, or other income, may be used for the payment of mileage, meals, and lodging
under this subsection.
3. A special fund is established in the state treasury and designated as the administrative
hearings fund. The office of administrative hearings shall deposit in the fund all
moneys received by it in payment for providing services rendered by any
administrative law judge in the conduct of an administrative hearing and related
proceedings under this chapter, as well as all moneys received by the office in
payment for mileage, meals, and lodging in connection with providing any

administrative law judge to conduct an administrative hearing and related proceedings.
The moneys in the fund are a standing and continuing appropriation and are
appropriated, as necessary, for the following purposes:
a. For the office of administrative hearings to pay for salaries, wages, benefits,
operating expenses, and equipment, including payment to temporary
administrative law judges, as necessary, for the purpose of providing requested
administrative law judges to agencies, to any unit of local government in this
state, to any tribal government in this state, or to the judicial branch.
b. For the office of administrative hearings to pay mileage, meals, and lodging to
any administrative law judges, as necessary, in connection with the services to be
provided under this chapter.
### § 54-57-08. Advisory council.

There is created a state advisory council for administrative hearings. The advisory council
must be a committee or subcommittee of the state bar association of North Dakota, appointed
by its president. The advisory council shall meet with the director at least semiannually and shall
advise the director on policy matters affecting the office of administrative hearings and on rules
adopted by the director.
### § 54-57-09. Case processing tracking and reporting.

1. The office of administrative hearings shall track the time elapsed between the date the
office receives a file from workforce safety and insurance and the date of the
administrative law judge's decision, and monthly calculate a rolling six-month average
of time elapsed.
2. The office of administrative hearings shall adopt case processing standards and
policies, including provisions intended to meet a goal of an average of two hundred
fifteen days or less per case. Administrative law judges have an average of two
hundred fifteen days to issue a decision for any injured worker case from the date the
office of administrative hearings receives a file from workforce safety and insurance.
The date of the last assigned file is the date of assignment for all consolidated files.
3. The office of administrative hearings shall report statistical information regarding
results under the case processing standards and policies to the state advisory council
each quarter. The reports must include the information required under subsection 1.
