OAH News

Today, Chief Administrative Hearing Officer Bryan Nickels issued General Order No. 2. This General Order further prepares the Office of Administrative Hearings for the onboarding of contested cases from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare beginning July 1, 2024, by subdividing the Office of Administrative Hearings into two divisions: the Health and Social Services Division, and the General Government Division.

General Order No. 2 is available here:

https://oah.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/General-Order-No.-2.pdf

In advance of the Office of Administrative Hearings’ assumption of the conducting of Department of Health and Welfare contested case hearings, Chief Administrative Hearing Officer Bryan A. Nickels has issued General Order No. 1, which relates to Idaho Rule of Administrative Procedure 800 (effective July 1, 2024) and the application of the Department of Health and Welfare’s prior contested case rules under IDAPA 16.05.03.

A copy of General Order No. 1 may be found here:

OAH has moved! OAH’s central office is now located at 350 N. 9th St., Suite 300, Boise, ID 83702. Our main phone number and email addresses all remain the same.

OAH has released its first year-end report, reflecting key data and information regarding its operations for the calendar year 2023. A copy of that report is available here:

A revised Code of Conduct – addressing a statutory change in the last legislative session and further develop of Canon 4 – has been issued, with an effective date of August 18, 2023. This Code of Conduct governs all OAH hearing officers. The revised Code of Conduct is available here.

Pursuant to Idaho Code sec. 67-1903(4), OAH is soliciting the views and suggestions of those persons and entities potentially affected by OAH’s Strategic Plan, which will be considered in finalizing the Strategic Plan in advance of submitting it to the Division of Financial Management. View and suggestions relevant to OAH’s Strategic Plan should be submitted to general@oah.idaho.gov no later than May 19, 2023. A copy of the Strategic Plan can be found on the “About OAH” page, located here.

On March 30, 2023, Gov. Little signed SB1023, which legislation provides some refinements to OAH’s enabling legislation. The four primary highlights of this legislation, which will go into effect on July 1, are as follows:

– SB1023 adds refinements to OAH’s organizational set-up, to include: 1) formally adds OAH to the Department of Self-Governing Agencies list in I.C. sec. 67-2604; 2) makes OAH employees non-classified employees under I.C. 67-5303 (like judges, Deputies Attorney General, and the State Appellate Public Defender’s office); and 3) permits OAH to utilize outside counsel under I.C. sec. 67-1406 (similar to, e.g., the various agriculture commissions, the Idaho State Bar, and the Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses).

– SB1023 also clarifies that the salary of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer is as set by the Governor (again, similar to the State Appellate Public Defender).

– SB1023 also refines the existing practice of law restriction for OAH hearing officers under I.C. sec. 67-5282(2)(a) to allow interpretation of that restriction in accord with the Idaho Code of Judicial Conduct.

– Finally, SB1023 adds a new public records exemption (as I.C. sec. 74-104(3)) to exempt “Any writings, drafts, notes, or working memoranda related to decision-making in any proceeding before the office of administrative hearings.” However, the new language ensures that “Orders issued by the office of administrative hearings are not exempt from disclosure under this section, unless otherwise exempt from disclosure under this chapter.”

If you would like to read the full text of SB1023, it can be accessed here: https://legislature.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/sessioninfo/2023/legislation/S1023.pdf