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Alaska Statutes.

Title 44. State Government

Chapter 64. Hearing Officers and Office of Administrative Hearings

Section 20. Powers and Duties of Chief Administrative Law Judge.

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AS 44.64.020. Powers and Duties of Chief Administrative Law Judge.

(a) The chief administrative law judge shall

(1) supervise the office;

(2) employ administrative staff, who shall be in the classified service;

(3) employ administrative law judges, who shall be in the partially exempt service;

(4) preside over administrative hearings handled by the office or, based upon the qualifications and expertise of the administrative law judges, assign administrative law judges to preside over hearings, and protect, support, and enhance the decisional independence of the administrative law judges;

(5) establish and implement performance standards, including provision for timeliness, and peer review programs for administrative law judges employed or retained by the office;

(6) make available and facilitate training and continuing education programs and services in administrative procedure, administrative adjudication, substantive law, alternate dispute resolution, and technical matters for administrative law judges and other administrative adjudicators;

(7) survey administrative hearing participants and use other methods to monitor the quality of administrative hearings held by the office and other state agencies, and submit to the governor and the legislature on January 31 of each year the results of the survey along with a report that includes a description of the activities of the office and recommendations for statutory changes that may be needed in relation to the administrative hearings held by the office or other state agencies;

(8) review and comment on regulations proposed by state agencies to govern procedures in administrative hearings;

(9) enter into contracts as necessary to carry out the functions of the office;

(10) annually prepare and submit to the commissioner of administration a budget for the office for the next fiscal year that shall include and separately identify funding for training and continuing education; a copy of the budget submitted to the commissioner under this paragraph shall also be submitted to the Finance Committee of each house of the legislature;

(11) after consulting with affected agencies, adopt regulations under AS 44.62 (Administrative Procedure Act) to carry out the duties of the office and implement this chapter.

(12) receive and review applications from individuals seeking appointments to the Workers' Compensation Appeals Commission and submit the names of individuals to the governor for appointment as provided in AS 23.30.007 (d); and

(13) appoint a chair pro tempore for the Workers' Compensation Appeals Commission as provided in AS 23.30.007 (m).

(b) In carrying out the responsibilities of the office, the chief administrative law judge shall seek to accomplish the following goals:

(1) provide for the delivery of high quality adjudication services in a timely, efficient, and cost-effective manner;

(2) ensure respect for the privacy and dignity of the individuals whose cases are being adjudicated and protect them from threats, intimidation, and harassment;

(3) foster open and clearly explained agency decisions and improve public access to the process of administrative adjudication;

(4) guarantee protection of all parties' due process rights, increase the public parties' perception of fairness in administrative adjudication, and foster acceptance of final administrative decisions by the public and affected parties;

(5) protect the integrity of the process of administrative adjudication and decisional independence of administrative adjudicators; and

(6) increase consistency in administrative procedures and decisions.