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Session of 2000
          SENATE Substitute for                     HOUSE BILL No. 2082           By Committee on Judiciary           4-6          

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11             AN  ACT concerning administrative hearings; relating to the office of ad-
12             ministrative hearings; amending K.S.A. 75-37,121 and repealing the
13             existing section.
14      
15       Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
16             Section  1. K.S.A. 75-37,121 is hereby amended to read as follows:
17       75-37,121. On and after July 1, 1998: (a) There is created the office of
18       administrative hearings within the department of administration, to be
19       headed by a director appointed by the secretary of administration.
20             (b) The office shall employ administrative law judges, court reporters
21       and other support personnel as necessary to conduct proceedings re-
22       quired by the Kansas administrative procedure act for adjudicative pro-
23       ceedings of the department of social and rehabilitation services. The of-
24       fice shall conduct adjudicative proceedings of the department of social
25       and rehabilitation services which are not under the Kansas administrative
26       procedure act when requested by such agency. Only a person admitted
27       to practice law in this state may be employed as an administrative law
28       judge. The office may employ regular part-time personnel. Persons em-
29       ployed by the office shall be under the classified civil service.
30             (c) If the office cannot furnish one of its administrative law judges in
31       response to the department of social and rehabilitation services request,
32       the director shall designate in writing a full-time employee of an agency
33       other than the department of social and rehabilitation services to serve
34       as administrative law judge for the proceeding, but only with the consent
35       of the employing agency. The designee must possess the same qualifi-
36       cations required of administrative law judges employed by the office.
37             (d) The director may furnish administrative law judges on a contract
38       basis to any governmental entity to conduct any proceeding not subject
39       to the Kansas administrative procedure act or not listed in K.S.A. 77-551
40       and amendments thereto other than a proceeding as provided in subsec-
41       tion (b).
42             (e) On or before January 1, 1999, the department of administration
43       shall adopt rules and regulations:

2
  1             (1) To establish further qualifications for administrative law judges,
  2       procedures by which candidates will be considered for employment, and
  3       the manner in which public notice of vacancies in the staff of the office
  4       will be given;
  5             (2) to establish procedures for agencies to request and for the director
  6       to assign administrative law judges. The department of social and reha-
  7       bilitation services may neither select nor reject any individual administra-
  8       tive law judge for any proceeding except in accordance with the Kansas
  9       administrative procedure act;
10             (3) to establish procedures and adopt forms, consistent with the Kan-
11       sas administrative procedure act, the model rules of procedure, and other
12       provisions of law, to govern administrative law judges;
13             (4) to establish standards and procedures for the evaluation, training,
14       promotion and discipline of administrative law judges; and
15             (5) to facilitate the performance of the responsibilities conferred
16       upon the office by the Kansas administrative procedure act.
17             (f) The director may:
18             (1) Maintain a staff of reporters and other personnel; and
19             (2) implement the provisions of this section and rules and regulations
20       adopted under its authority.
21             (g) The department of administration may adopt rules and regula-
22       tions to establish fees to charge a state agency for the cost of using an
23       administrative law judge.
24             (h) Effective July 1, 1998, personnel in the administrative hearings
25       section of the department of social and rehabilitation services and support
26       personnel for such administrative law judges, shall be transferred to the
27       office of administrative hearings. Such personnel shall retain all rights
28       under the state personnel system and retirement benefits under the laws
29       of this state, and such person's services shall be deemed to have been
30       continuous. This act shall not affect any matter pending before an ad-
31       ministrative hearing officer at the time of the effective date of the transfer,
32       and such matter shall proceed as though no transfer of employment had
33       occurred.
34        Sec.  2. K.S.A. 75-37,121 is hereby repealed.
35        Sec.  3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
36       publication in the statute book.