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Office of Administrative Hearings warns of special‑fund cash shortfall, asks for temporary credit access
Summary
Director Hope Hogan told the Appropriations — Human Resources Division that the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) is fully supported by special funds and has seen steady request volume but falling billable hours, producing a negative cash balance and prompting a request to consider a line of credit or short‑term loan authority.
Hope Hogan, director of the Office of Administrative Hearings, told the House Appropriations — Human Resources Division that the office is entirely supported by special funds and is facing a funding crunch after billable hours declined even as hearing requests remained steady.
"My name is Hope Hogan and I am the director of OAH going on 2 months now," Hogan said in opening remarks. She described the office’s caseload and staffing: OAH is authorized for five full‑time positions but was operating with four FTEs and two permanent administrative staff. The office also contracts four part‑time administrative law judges to handle workload outside Bismarck.
Hogan gave legislators a staffing and workload snapshot. The office received 446 hearing requests in 2023 and 499 in 2024 — 945 combined for those two calendar years — and reported roughly 65 percent of requests proceed to a hearing. But billable hours, the office’s primary revenue driver, have fallen: Hogan said billable hours decreased from 7,972.8 in 2018 to about 4,208.3 in 2024, and she traced part of the drop to fewer billable hours from Workforce Safety & Insurance (WSI) and more cases settling before hearings.
The finance effect is visible in the OAH cash balance: Hogan said the office had $368,563 on hand in June 2020 but was at a negative $6,453 as of the February reporting period. Because OAH depends on agency fee‑for‑service billing, Hogan urged the committee to consider mechanisms to smooth cash shortfalls. She noted the office previously had authority to borrow from the general fund and proposed either restoring similar language or arranging a line of credit with the Bank of North Dakota, with repayment terms extending beyond the biennium if necessary.
Hogan also said the office had raised its billable rate from $215 to $265 per hour effective January 2024 for most agencies, though a standing contract with WSI kept WSI at $215 per hour until that contract expires. She said the rate increase was set to a break‑even point based on accountant analysis.
Committee members pressed Hogan for specifics about the line‑of‑credit amount and about ongoing cost‑saving measures. Hogan said the office eliminated subscriptions (legal research and automated transcription) and planned to limit use of contract ALJs, relying on two permanent ALJs and available contractors only as necessary. Legislators generally expressed support for a temporary credit option and for the office’s efficiency measures, and asked Hogan to return with a dollar amount the office would seek for short‑term borrowing.
The committee agreed to invite Hogan back to provide a recommended line‑of‑credit amount so the budget can be finalized as the committee works through the agency appropriations process.
Ending: The hearing closed after Hogan said she would work with her office manager to provide the requested line‑of‑credit figure and return to the committee for follow‑up information.
