Senate Finance Committee approves printing bill to fold Office of Administrative Hearings into statewide cost-allocation model

The Senate Finance Committee voted to print a bill to give the Division of Financial Management statutory authority to include the Office of Administrative Hearings in the statewide cost-allocation program, a move staff said will let the office be direct-billed to agencies that use its services.

Lori Wolf, administrator for the Division of Financial Management, told the committee the Office of Administrative Hearings was established in fiscal year 2023 and has expanded the number of agencies it serves. "What this bill does is ensure that we have the statutory authority to move [the Office of Administrative Hearings] into our, we call it our SWICAP model," Wolf said. She described SWICAP as a statewide cost-allocation program with a typical two-year lookback used to estimate charges to participating agencies.

The bill text, Wolf said, would allow the Office of Administrative Hearings to direct-bill the Department of Health and Welfare for cases handled on that department's behalf. Wolf said cost estimation must begin in fiscal year 2026 and that the office would fully move into the SWICAP model in fiscal year 2028.

Sen. Cinder Woodward asked how the costs would be distributed. "And so what will these costs be — just to agencies that utilize the service or spread across?" Woodward asked. Wolf replied the plan is to allocate costs to those agencies that utilize the Office of Administrative Hearings and that the two-year cost-estimation period will provide more precise apportionment.

A motion to print the bill was made and seconded; Senator Cook offered the second. The committee chair asked for unanimous consent to print the routing slip; the transcript records the routing‑slip numbers as "323 436" in one place and "32436" in another. With no objections, the routing slip was ordered printed and the committee agreed to schedule a full hearing later when members could question staff in detail.

The measure carries implementation steps and timing rather than an immediate funding change: staff must complete the SWICAP cost estimates beginning in FY 2026, and the office would be fully incorporated into SWICAP in FY 2028. No formal roll-call vote or numeric tally was recorded in the transcript; the action to print proceeded by unanimous consent.

Committee discussion focused on allocation mechanics and timing; no changes to the bill text or amendments were recorded at the meeting. The chair closed the meeting after the unanimous-consent request was granted and said staff would return for further discussion at a later hearing.