Committee adopts change to state review of agency decisions in SB 248

The House Judiciary Committee on an afternoon hearing adopted an amendment and gave a favorable report to Senate Bill 248, a measure that would alter judicial review under the Alabama Administrative Procedure Act by removing the presumption that a court must defer to an agency's interpretation of its governing statute.

Supporters said the bill implements a change the U.S. Supreme Court made at the federal level and would require state courts to review agency statutory interpretation without the prior presumption of correctness. Committee members debated what the change would mean for procedure in circuit court, including whether removing the phrase "de novo, meaning in effect without any presumption as to correctness" would bar discovery in a circuit-court review.

The sponsor presented an amendment that replaced the removed language to clarify that courts should not give weight to agency decisions but should consider them as part of statutory interpretation. The panel adopted the amendment by voice vote and then voted to issue a favorable report for the bill as amended.

Committee members probing the change said the provision could affect all executive-branch agencies, including the Department of Human Resources, the Department of Mental Health and other licensing and regulatory agencies. One committee member said the change "wholly changes how that hearing is going to be conducted and how the decisions that are made by that administrative law judge are going to be interpreted." Others asked whether the intent was to avoid a full retrial and the sponsors and a judge on the panel said discovery was not intended to be reopened in most cases.

The amendment was offered, seconded and adopted; the committee then moved and seconded a motion for a favorable report as amended. No roll-call vote with individual names was recorded in the transcript for the final favorable report.