"OAH Values"

by Cliff J. Vanell, Director Vol. 9 November 1998

The Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) began operations on January 2, 1996. As the OAH approaches its third year of existence, I begin this quarter's message by quoting from portions of our website

"To achieve a goal, one must define it. Our mission statement (below right) is designed to reflect our core values. We display it prominently on our stationery, our business cards, our offices and hearing rooms. It reminds us of what we should be striving for. It also is an expression of what those who come to us have a right to expect. Regulatory reform was born of the belief that government must respect the economic needs and independence of those engaged in creating the wealth that in turn forms the basis of our general economic well-being. By explicitly recognizing that we are a government of fellow-citizens, we take very seriously our legislative mandate of providing fair, impartial and independent hearings. At the conclusion of each hearing we ask our fellow citizens, be they private citizens or their attorneys or attorneys for the regulating agencies, to tell us whether we have succeeded in providing an accessible and respectful forum for truth. We ask them to grade our administrative law judges, our support staff and all contacts."

Again, from our website, the management philosophy of the Office:

• "There is no limit to what we can contribute if we are properly selected, well-trained, appropriately supported and committed.

• We must constantly identify and eliminate unnecessary procedures and paperwork.

• We must never allow our policies and procedures to demean human dignity or stifle creativity.

• Our management positions must always be considered positions of service.

• We must invest in our human capital as much as hardware. Training and retraining must be provided to ensure our personal and professional growth so that we can better serve the public.

• We must listen constantly, share ideas and information, and recognize achievement.

• We all must be evaluated on our contributions, sense of teamwork and love of change.

• We will always remember that each case is the most important case to the parties.

• Everyone is entitled to respect and courtesy.

• We are here to serve."

Recently I addressed a portion of the legal community in regard to the Office. In that address I pointed out some of the major advantages of a centralized panel: the clear and unequivocal statement of fairness and impartiality inherent in an independent panel of administrative law judges; the efficiencies possible only in the economies of scale and the cross-training of administrative law judges; the ability to track cases and monitor efficiencies over the whole gamut of regulatory agencies; uniform practice, and benefits of collegiality among administrative law judges dealing in diverse subject matter. Having recently attended the annual meeting of directors of central panels, representing 23 states, I was impressed by the great strides that administrative law continues to make in the development of administrative law judges and the move toward the central panel model.

The first quarter statistics of this fiscal year show that the agency acceptance of the administrative law judge recommended orders without modification was 92%. Acceptance of findings of fact and conclusions of law without modification was 99%. Rehearings were rare (.5%) and no appeals were taken. Evaluations by hearing participants continue to indicate that the administrative law judges are consistently rated excellent or good during hearings.

The Office of Administrative Hearings will continue to work to develop itself to better perform its mission. We have recently completed the scanning of final agency orders to allow easier review by the administrative law judges within the case management system. A full text search of all administrative law judges decisions is being implemented for research purposes. Scripting of our upcoming videotape to assist unrepresented parties is in progress, including soliciting comments by former unrepresented parties.

To quote Aristotle: "We are what we do repeatedly. Excellence is therefore, not an act, but a habit". It is this predictable degree of performance that we seek.