Administrative Hearings Process

Unless prohibited by law, OAH favors scheduling conferences and evidentiary hearings by telephone or video conference. Any party, or the ALJ, may request an in-person evidentiary hearing. However, such requests are taken under consideration by the ALJ and may be granted at the discretion of the ALJ, unless an in-person hearing is required by law, and there aren’t extraordinary circumstances that would prevent the hearing from being held in-person.

Steps in the Administrative Proceeding Process

Request for Administrative/Fair Hearing

The first step in the OAH administrative proceeding process is to submit a Request for Administrative/Fair Hearing. Depending on the type of review you need, this request will either be submitted by you or by a state agency. Refer to appeal information you received from the state agency as to who should submit a review request. You must also refer to information you received from the state agency to determine how long you have to submit a review request. A form may be accessed in the Forms section and submitted electronically.

Assignment of an Administrative Law Judge

Once OAH receives a request for an administrative hearing an administrative law judge will be assigned to your matter and will promptly schedule an initial prehearing conference. All administrative law judges must adhere to the Kansas Code of Conduct for Administrative Law Judges.

Burden of Proof

While the Kansas Administrative Procedures Act (KAPA) does not specifically address who has the burden of proof in cases appearing before the ALJ, The Kansas Judicial Review Act (KJRA) does. The KJRA controls the review of decisions issued by OAH. K.S.A. 77-621(a)(1) places “[t]he burden of proving the invalidity of agency action [] on the party asserting invalidity.” In other words, if you are challenging an agency action, the burden of proof is on you.

The burden of proof may vary depending upon the type of case. The ALJ will discuss the burden of proof with the parties prior to the evidentiary hearing or submission of briefs, either during a prehearing conference or in the order setting the briefing schedule/notice of hearing.

Prehearing Conference

In some cases, there will be a prehearing conference involving the Administrative Law Judge and the parties. Not all cases will have a prehearing conference, K.S.A. 77-516. The prehearing conference is informal and will provide the parties and the Administrative Law Judge an opportunity to discuss the issues being contested in the proceeding, a schedule going forward, a hearing date, and any other matters the parties need to discuss.

Parties may also discuss whether either party believes the proceeding should be dismissed for a legal reason. Any party believing a proceeding should be dismissed must file a written motion to dismiss to allow the other party to respond and for the ALJ to review prior to ruling on the motion.

Although the process will vary depending on the type of action being contested, following a prehearing conference you can expect to participate in the discovery process (this will allow you and the other party to seek information and documents from each other).

Discovery

Discovery is a process where the parties to a matter are permitted to seek information and documents from other parties, or from non-parties. Discovery is most commonly sought through interrogatories (written questions), requests for admissions, and requests for production of documents. OAH follows K.S.A. 77-522 and the Rules of Civil Procedure to guide this process.

Summary Judgment / Dispositive Motion

At the conclusion of discovery, if one party believes, based on the facts and law, that they are entitled to summary judgment, they may file a motion for summary judgment or other dispositive motion. The other party will have an opportunity to respond to the motion and designate evidence in support of their position.

If the ALJ determines a hearing is necessary to review remaining issues following summary judgment motions, an evidentiary hearing will take place where each party can submit evidence and question witnesses on the remaining issues.

Evidentiary Hearing

An administrative hearing is a less formal trial. Each party will have the opportunity to present its side of the matter and introduce evidence before the administrative law judge. Evidence may be in the form of testimony, documents, records, or other tangible objects. The ALJ is only permitted to consider the evidence admitted by the ALJ into the record during the hearing. While some evidence may be offered into evidence, not all evidence is admitted.

Absent a law to the contrary, Kansas Administrative Procedures Act allows an ALJ to consider evidence that otherwise would not be admitted under the Kansas Rules of Evidence. K.S.A. 77-524. The purpose of this is to comply with the Kansas law and provide all parties the opportunity for a fair and impartial review of an agency action.

This means that if evidence is offered and objected to by the opposing party, the ALJ will exclude proffered evidence that is subject to privilege, irrelevant, immaterial, unduly repetitious, or excludable on constitutional or statutory grounds. However, hearsay evidence (a recount by one individual about what another person said that is offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted) may be admitted but may not be the sole reason for an ALJ’s order if properly objected to by the opposing party.

Unless prohibited by law or regulation, OAH favors scheduling hearings by telephone or video conference. However, any party, or the ALJ, may request an in-person hearing. Such requests should be granted absent extraordinary circumstances.

Post-Evidentiary Hearing Briefs

Following an evidentiary hearing, the ALJ may allow the parties an opportunity to submit post-hearing briefs or submit their own proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law for review by the ALJ. The ALJ will issue Proposed Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and an Order deciding the issues in dispute.

Not all cases will follow this process. Refer to the statutes, administrative rules, federal regulation (if any) and any orders of the ALJ assigned to your case for any detailed requirements or discuss your unique situation with an attorney.

ALJ’s Decision

Following the evidentiary hearing or submission of briefs, the ALJ must issue Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and an Order within thirty (30) days after conclusion of the hearing or after submission of proposed findings of fact. This period may be waived or extended with written consent of the parties or for good cause shown. K.S.A. 77-526(g). The ALJ’s order will be either an Initial Order or a Final Order. The Order will include a description of the parties’ appeal rights.

(View the OAH Administrative Hearing Process Chart)