Law Commons^™

The Regulation And Administration Of The Welfare Hearing Process – The Need For Administrative Responsibility, Robert E. Scott

Faculty Scholarship

In recent years, the concept of public welfare has undergone substantial conceptual changes, the primary being a shift from the older concept of gratuity to one of statutory entitlement pursuant to the Social Security Act. This paper seeks to examine and analyze the administrative "fair hearing" as a means of effective regulation of administrative discretion and enforcement of the entitlement provisions of the federal act. Primary emphasis is placed on a comparative treatment of state hearing procedures and federal hearing regulations to determine whether the fair hearing is, at present, a viable means of insuring due process in welfare administration.