Sponsors (3)
The bill expands respondents' access to local federal courts and clarifies who counts as an agency hearing officer, improving perceived fairness and legal clarity at the cost of higher litigation expenses, longer delays, and greater administrative burdens.
Individuals, small businesses, and other respondents can remove agency enforcement or adjudicative matters to the U.S. district court in the judicial district where they live or have their principal place of business, giving them access to neutral federal courts and likely more consistent outcomes than agency adjudication.
Federal employees and government contractors gain clearer rules because the bill defines 'agency hearing officer' to include administrative law judges and other authorized agency adjudicators, reducing ambiguity about when removal and related protections apply.
Taxpayers, individuals, and small businesses are likely to face higher litigation costs and longer case timelines as matters shift from faster agency processes into federal district-court litigation.
Federal, state, and local agencies (and their staff) could see more workload and resource pressure because fewer matters are finalized administratively and more require district-court litigation or oversight.
Individuals and small businesses may engage in forum-shopping because the expanded definition of 'agency hearing officer' and removal options could allow respondents to seek federal-court review for a broader and more varied set of agency actions.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Allows defendants in agency hearings to remove those actions to a U.S. district court where they reside or have a principal place of business under 28 U.S.C. §1446.
Official title: To authorize the removal of an action from an administrative law judge of any administrative agency to a district court of the United States.
Introduced January 15, 2025 by Harriet Hageman · Last progress January 15, 2025
Creates a new removal right allowing a person who is a defendant in an administrative enforcement or adjudicative action before an agency hearing officer to remove that proceeding to a U.S. district court where the person lives or has a principal place of business, by filing a notice under the federal removal statute. It also revises the opening text of 5 U.S.C. §702 and defines “agency hearing officer” to include administrative law judges and other agency employees authorized to hear actions.