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Open-government advocates press OAH for searchable orders and live dashboards
Summary
Transparency advocates urged OAH to publish final orders, case-processing times, and backlog dashboards so the public and policymakers can diagnose delays; OAH said upgrades to a search portal are underway but constrained by resources.
Multiple witnesses told the committee that lack of accessible data makes it difficult to assess OAH's performance or to target staffing and procedural fixes. Fritz Muhlhauser of the DC Open Government Coalition described a nearly opaque public record, saying "the public basically can't answer the basic question, how long do cases take?" He urged a live dashboard with case volumes, processing times and outcomes by jurisdiction.
Chief Judge Colleen Curry acknowledged the need for better public data and said OAH is working on an improved final-orders search and e-filing portal but faces resource and procurement constraints; she gave a vendor-ballpark estimate of about $40,000 to upgrade searchable functionality. Witnesses recommended quarterly public reporting that breaks down processing times by case type so staffing targets can be rationally assigned.
