HB517 Summary

• Establishes the Office of Administrative Hearings as an independent executive branch unit to consolidate administrative hearings currently conducted by the Administrative Law Judge Division, effective October 1, 2010.

• Creates the State Advisory Council on Administrative Hearings composed of the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Presiding Judge of the Court of Civil Appeals, Presiding Circuit Judge of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, President of the Alabama State Bar, and the Attorney General to appoint the chief administrative law judge and promulgate rules within 90 days.

• Appoints a chief administrative law judge to a six-year term who must be an Alabama State Bar member with 10 years of law practice experience and 5 years of judicial or administrative law judge service; establishes the chief's duties including supervising the office, appointing administrative law judges, and establishing hearing timelines (30 days to begin, 90 days to complete, 45 days for recommended order).

• Exempts the legislative branch, judicial branch, Office of the Governor, Board of Pardons and Paroles, Public Service Commission, Department of Industrial Relations, State Oil and Gas Board, Board of Medical Examiners, Medical Licensure Board, and Department of Revenue from the office's jurisdiction.

• Appropriates $450,000 from the State General Fund and $450,000 from the Education Trust Fund for fiscal year ending September 30, 2011.