OAH IS BOUGHT AND PAID FOR BY THE VERY DEPARTMENTS WHO ARE PROSECUTING YOU!

Does it appear fair to you that the Department that is charging you pays the salary of the judge who oversees your hearing? We have been informed that the Office of Administrative Hearings does not receive its budget through general funds but rather has to contract with the Departments it holds hearings for. We understand that the contracts between OAH and the Departments can be quite specific in terms of what the judge is required to do for them. And, in the end, if the Department does not like the rulings it is getting, it can take its money and hire its own judges – like the Department of Health or Insurance Commissioner does. That fact would clearly put pressure on judges to mind their pay masters!