Role in Dispute Resolution
The State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) resolves disputes between Texas agencies, other governmental entities, and private citizens. The office allows for a non-judicial resolution of disputes by administrative law judges who are meant to act as neutral arbiters.
Under its enabling statute, the purpose of the office is to separate the adjudicative function from the investigative, prosecutorial, and policymaking functions of the executive branch in relation to hearings the office is authorized to conduct.1
The stated objectives of the State Office of Administrative Hearings are:
- Conduct fair and objective administrative hearings.
- Provide fair, timely and efficient decisions and proposals for decision.
- Offer the opportunity for parties to resolve their disputes through mediation or alternative dispute resolution.
SOAH currently conducts hearings on behalf of approximately 60 state agencies, including the Public Utility Commission, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Department of Insurance, Employees Retirement System, Alcoholic Beverage Commission, Medical Board, Department of Agriculture, Commission on Law Enforcement, and various occupational licensing boards.
In many cases, the administrative law judge does not issue a final ruling but instead a “proposal for decision” containing findings of fact and conclusions of law, which the referring agency may adopt, amend, or reject in its final order. In certain case types, such as driver’s license and some licensing matters, the judge’s decision is final. Administrative law judges at SOAH are statutorily independent and may not be supervised or directed by anyone other than the chief administrative law judge.
Structure and Leadership
SOAH is headed by a chief administrative law judge appointed by the governor.2 The agency employs about 120 staff, including more than 50 administrative law judges, at its Austin headquarters and several regional offices.3 It has dedicated teams for license revocations, alternative dispute resolution, tax cases, utilities cases, special education cases, and the agency’s Central Hearings Panel.
Types of Hearings
On average, SOAH conducts approximately 30,000 hearings per year.4 These hearings are generally of two types: driver’s license hearings, also known as administrative license revocation hearings, referred from the Department of Public Safety; and general hearings, also known as contested case hearings, referred from other state agencies or governmental entities.
Decisions, Final Orders, and Appeals
In many contested cases, the administrative law judge does not issue a final ruling. Instead, the judge issues a “proposal for decision,” or PFD, containing findings of fact and conclusions of law, along with a recommended outcome.
After the proposal is served, the parties may file exceptions and replies, and the judge may amend the proposal in response before it is transmitted to the referring agency. The agency’s board or commissioner then issues the final order in the case.
The referring agency’s power to alter a proposal for decision is limited by statute. Under the Administrative Procedure Act, an agency may change a finding of fact or conclusion of law only if it determines that the judge misapplied the law, agency rules, written agency policies, or prior administrative decisions, or to correct a technical error, and it must state its reasons and legal basis in writing.5
In practice, this makes the judge’s factual findings difficult for an agency to disturb. The judge’s recommended sanction, however, is not binding: Texas courts have held that the referring agency, not the administrative law judge, has final authority over the penalty imposed, and an agency may order a harsher or lighter sanction than the judge recommended. A few agencies, including the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Public Utility Commission, and the Comptroller, operate under modified review powers set by their own statutes.
In certain case types, the administrative law judge’s decision is final rather than advisory. These include driver’s license suspension cases and special education due process hearings. Administrative license revocation decisions may be appealed to a county court, while final orders in most other contested cases may be challenged in district court.
Administrative law judges at SOAH are statutorily independent: a judge is not subject to the supervision or direction of anyone other than the chief administrative law judge, and referring agencies are prohibited from attempting to influence a judge’s findings except through evidence and legal argument presented in the case.
Agency History
The State Office of Administrative Hearings was created by the 72nd Legislature in 1991 and began operations in January 1992. The first agencies for which it conducted hearings were the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and the Texas Department of Insurance.
The agency began hearing driver’s license hearings in 1995 and providing alternative dispute resolution services in 1997.
In 2003 SOAH began hearing child support enforcement hearings for the Office of the Attorney General, and in 2007 it took over tax hearings that previously had been conducted by the Comptroller of Public Accounts. In 2013 the agency began conducting special education due process hearings for the Texas Education Agency under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
Sources and Citations
- Texas Government Code § 2003.021 ↩︎
- Texas Government Code § 2003.022 ↩︎
- “Organization Chart,” State Office of Administrative Hearings ↩︎
- “History of SOAH,” State Office of Administrative Hearings. ↩︎
- Texas Government Code § 2001.058(e) ↩︎
