10A.801 - DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS -- CREATION, POWERS, DUTIES.
10A.801 DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS --
CREATION, POWERS, DUTIES.
1. Definitions. For purposes of this section, unless the
context otherwise requires:
a. "Administrator" means the person coordinating the
administration of the division.
b. "Division" means the administrative hearings division of
the department of inspections and appeals.
2. The administrator shall coordinate the division's conduct of
appeals and administrative hearings as provided by law.
3. a. The department shall employ a sufficient number of
administrative law judges to conduct proceedings for which agencies
are required, by section 17A.11 or any other provision of law, to use
an administrative law judge employed by the division. An
administrative law judge employed by the division shall not perform
duties inconsistent with the judge's duties and responsibilities as
an administrative law judge and shall be located in an office that is
separated from the offices of the agencies for which that person acts
as a presiding officer. Administrative law judges shall be covered
by the merit system provisions of chapter 8A, subchapter IV.
b. The division shall facilitate, insofar as practicable,
specialization by its administrative law judges so that particular
judges may become expert in presiding over cases in particular
agencies. An agency may, by rule, identify particular classes of its
contested cases for which the administrative law judge who acts as
presiding officer shall have specified technical expertness. After
the adoption of such a rule, the division may assign administrative
law judges to preside over those identified particular classes of
contested cases only if the administrative law judge possesses the
technical expertness specified by agency rule. The division may
charge the applicable agency for the costs of any training required
by the division's administrative law judges to acquire or maintain
the technical expertise specified by agency rule.
4. If the division cannot furnish one of its administrative law
judges in response to an agency request, the administrator shall
designate in writing a full-time employee of an agency other than the
requesting agency to serve as administrative law judge for the
proceeding, but only with the consent of the employing agency. The
designee must possess the same qualifications required of
administrative law judges employed by the division.
5. The division may furnish administrative law judges on a
contract basis to any governmental entity to conduct any proceeding.
6. After July 1, 1999, a person shall not be newly employed by
the division as an administrative law judge to preside over contested
case proceedings unless that person has a license to practice law in
this state.
7. The division shall adopt rules pursuant to this chapter and
chapter 17A to do all of the following:
a. To establish procedures for agencies to request and for
the administrator to assign administrative law judges employed by the
division.
b. To establish procedures and adopt forms, consistent with
chapter 17A and other provisions of law, to govern administrative law
judges employed by the division, but any rules adopted under this
paragraph shall be applicable to a particular contested case
proceeding only to the extent that they are not inconsistent with the
rules of the agency under whose authority that proceeding is
conducted. Nothing in this paragraph precludes an agency from
establishing procedural requirements otherwise within its authority
to govern its contested case proceedings, including requirements with
respect to the timeliness of decisions rendered for it by
administrative law judges.
c. To establish standards and procedures for the evaluation,
training, promotion, and discipline for the administrative law judges
employed by the division. The procedures shall include provisions
for each agency for whom a particular administrative law judge
presides to submit to the division on a periodic basis the agency's
views with respect to the performance of that administrative law
judge or the need for specified additional training for that
administrative law judge. However, the evaluation, training,
promotion, and discipline of all administrative law judges employed
by the division shall remain solely within the authority of the
department.
d. To establish, consistent with the provisions of this
section and chapter 17A, a code of administrative judicial conduct
that is similar in function and substantially equivalent to the Iowa
code of judicial conduct, to govern the conduct, in relation to their
quasi-judicial functions in contested cases, of all persons who act
as presiding officers under the authority of section 17A.11,
subsection 1. The code of administrative judicial conduct shall
separately specify which provisions are applicable to agency heads or
members of multimembered agency heads when they act as presiding
officers, taking into account the objectives of the code and the fact
that agency heads, unlike administrative law judges, have other
duties imposed upon them by law. The code of administrative judicial
conduct may also contain separate provisions, that are appropriate
and consistent with the objectives of such a code, to govern the
conduct of agency heads or the members of multimember agency heads
when they act as presiding officers. However, a provision of the
code of administrative judicial conduct shall not be made applicable
to agency heads or members of multimember agency heads unless the
application of that provision to agency heads and members of
multimember agency heads has previously been approved by the
administrative rules coordinator.
e. To facilitate the performance of the responsibilities
conferred upon the division by this section, chapter 17A, and any
other provision of law.
8. The division may do all of the following:
a. Provide administrative law judges, upon request, to any
agency that is required to or wishes to utilize the services of an
administrative law judge employed by the division.
b. Maintain a staff of reporters and other personnel.
c. Administer the provisions of this section and rules
adopted under its authority.
9. The division may charge agencies for services rendered and the
payment received shall be considered repayment receipts as defined in
section 8.2.
10. Except to the extent specified otherwise by statute,
decisions of administrative law judges employed by the division are
subject to review by the agencies for which they act as presiding
officers as provided by section 17A.15 or any other provision of law.
Section History: Recent Form
98 Acts, ch 1202, §3, 46; 2002 Acts, ch 1162, §11--13; 2003 Acts,
ch 145, §130
Referred to in §10A.106, 17A.11, 20.6, 216.15, 225C.8, 453A.2,
505.29, 903A.1