Experienced Attorneys and Public Officials to Address Need for Office

NEW BRITAIN, CT (October 24, 2005) – The Connecticut Bar Association Administrative Law Section is sponsoring a program on an independent office of administrative hearings on Wednesday, November 9, 2005 in room 2C at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. The program will be moderated by section Chair Mary Alice Moore Leonhardt, an attorney in private practice in Hartford, and feature administrative judges from states that have such an office.

The CBA, on behalf of the Administrative Law Section, supports establishing a separate office of administrative hearings in the Executive branch to conduct contested case hearings in matters before administrative agencies. The office of administrative hearings would consolidate and centralize the adjudicative duties currently performed by various agencies. The office would:

• ensure impartial administration and conduct of hearings of contested cases;
• ensure greater uniformity and consistency in the application of the Uniform Administrative Procedure Act by state agencies; and
• facilitate and enhance public trust and confidence in the exercise of regulatory and disciplinary powers conferred upon agencies and boards.

The panel of distinguished speakers will include Judge Thomas E. Ewing, Chief Judge of the Office of Administrative Hearings in Oregon; Judge John Hardwicke, Executive Director of the National Association of Administrative Law Judges; and Christopher Connolly, Chief Administrative Magistrate of Massachusetts. Winona Zimberlin, an attorney in private practice in Hartford, will facilitate a question and answer segment of the program.

“We are very excited about this program,” said Ms. Moore Leonhardt. “It will give us the opportunity to demonstrate to a wide audience why an office of administrative hearings is essential. Section members and practitioners before state agencies have known for many years that such an office would bring expertise, efficiency, uniform procedures and consistent decision-making as well as impartiality to the process so people believe they are receiving a fair hearing. A central hearing office would foster greater trust and confidence in state government, which has been diminished as a result of scandal in the previous administration. This forum provides the opportunity to show why it is in the state’s interest to create such an office.”

A bill in the 2005 legislative session of the Connecticut General Assembly would have established a central hearing unit. House Bill 6576, An Act Concerning the Establishment of an Office of Administrative Hearings, which the CBA supported, received a public hearing and favorable attention. The CBA hopes that similar legislation will be introduced in the 2006 session of the General Assembly and that this program will be a springboard for discussion about the bill.

The program is free and open to the public. It will feature a continental breakfast served at 8:30 a.m. in the atrium of the LOB. Ms. Moore Leonhardt will begin the presentation at 9:00 a.m.. The speakers will then address various issues, including transitioning to a new office of administrative hearings, cost, due process and expertise of administrative law judges. A question-and-answer period, open to members of the audience and facilitated by Ms. Zimberlin, will follow. Ms. Moore Leonhardt will deliver closing remarks to complete the program by 12:30 p.m.

The CBA has invited many organizations and public officials to attend the program, including the Governor, legislators, the Attorney General, state agency commissioners and legislative liaisons, law school deans and professors of administrative law, representatives of labor unions, municipalities and boards of education, and CBIA.

The CBA is a voluntary, not-for-profit association of lawyers and judges dedicated to promoting public service and advancing the principles of law and justice through its 11,000 members.

###