Law Commons^™

Protecting The Independence Of Administrative Law Judges: A Model Administrative Law Judge Corps Statute, Karen Y. Kauper

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note concludes that the federal government should adopt some form of central panel system to protect both the independence of the ALJs and the public interest. Part I of this Note presents several alternatives to the central panel systems that have been proposed in past years and discusses their inadequacies. Part II summarizes the arguments concerning the central panel system of administrative adjudication. Part III discusses several of the integral elements of a central panel system and analyzes the state statutes and the proposed federal legislation in light of these elements. Finally, Part IV proposes a model statute for …

Legislative Notes: The Economic Impact Disclosure Act, William F. Flynn

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

While the traditional concern with agency discretion is that agency decision-making will be biased in favor of the regulated industries, agencies are also criticized for failing to investigate the impact of their policies on the regulated client and the resulting cost to consumers. This failure prevents the agency from responding adequately to the legitimate interests of either the business community or consumers. This note examines a recently developed procedure designed to improve the agency decisionmaking process by requiring economic prediction of the effect which agency activities will have prior to agency action.

In particular, this note examines three issues. Part …

Michigan Environmental Protection Act Of 1970, Susan Pearce

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Widespread public preoccupation with environmental quality is a recent development, and one that has provided the impetus for a thorough examination of existing governmental structures in order to establish a functional system for the environment's protection and improvement. Commenting on this development, a leading environmental lawyer recently noted: "[T]he explosion of concern for the environment, at every private and governmental level, is the great political phenomenon of the last twelve months." As concern has grown about the quality of the environment, so too has skepticism increased about the ability of present institutions to cope with the problem. A constitutional amendment …

Judicial Tax Courts For The States: A Modern Imperative, William D. Dexter

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

There has been growing discontent among tax gatherers and taxpayers alike over the disposition of state and local tax disputes. Concern centers on the nature of appellate review and its availability irrespective of the tax involved or the amount or subject matter in controversy. In many jurisdictions the system of review in tax cases presents an unwieldy array of alternative administrative and judicial avenues of review which are confusing to the prospective tax appellant and destructive of economy and uniformity in the system. This article will assess the need for a specialized judicial court to review the initial disposition of …

The Need For An Ombudsman In State Government, Frank E. Cooper

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Despite the vast powers which have been delegated to state administrative agencies, comparatively little attention has been paid to their organization or methods of operation. As a result, some state agencies in their day-to-day operations fail to meet desirable standards of fair procedure. Each year, thousands of American citizens emerge indignant from an encounter with some agency representative who they assert has treated them impolitely or denied them what they deem to be their rights. But often the case does not involve enough to justify the expense of taking it to court, and the outraged citizen fumes in frustration, concluding …