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TESTIMONY
Asim Rehman on the Budget and Structure of the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH)
2:39:29
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5 min
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The Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) has a preliminary budget of $59.4 million for fiscal year 2025, with $46.1 million allocated to personnel services and $13.3 million to other services, consisting of 396 agency headcount.
- OATH's budget for fiscal year 2025 is $59.4 million, with $46.1 million for personnel services and $13.3 million for other services.
- The agency will have 396 staff members for fiscal year 2025.
- The budget does not include 348 per session judicial hearing officers who work part-time in the hearings division.
- OATH is structured into several divisions including trials, special education hearings, appeals, and the clerk's office, handling cases like civil summonses, disciplinary matters, conflicts of interest violations, and special education services.
Pauline Toole
2:45:00
with
Asim Rehman
2:39:29
Good afternoon.
2:39:31
My name is Asim Rahman.
2:39:33
And I'm the chief administrative law judge and commissioner at the New York City office administrative trials and hearings also known as oath.
2:39:40
I'd like to start by thanking chairassler and members of the committee on governmental operations, state, and federal legislation for the opportunity to testify today.
2:39:48
I'm accompanied by Arnab Das, deputy commissioner for administration and Brian Connell, assistant commissioner for financial services and data analytics.
2:39:58
Both is New York City's Central Administrative Law tribunal.
2:40:02
In the past calendar year, fiscal challenges have not deterred us from our mission to ensure due process fair and impartial hearings, and timely decisions for everyone who comes before oath.
2:40:13
All of votes, adjudicators approach this responsibility with the utmost seriousness As do the old staff who helped support our hearings, I can personally speak to this commitment.
2:40:23
As the chief administrative law judge, I, myself, conduct trials and conferences where I meet with litigants and their representatives listen to evidence, help parties find opportunities to settle and issue decisions that are based on the law.
2:40:36
Even with face with such physical challenges, oath has been able to maintain our standards by adapting our practices so that we continue to seamlessly seamlessly deliver our services to New Yorkers, city agencies, and other parties who appear before us.
2:40:52
The proof is in the numbers.
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In 2023 alone, we processed almost 590,000 sumances.
2:41:00
Held over 220,000 hearings, issued close to 25100 appeals decisions, and conducted over 625 trials.
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That is a tremendous volume of work, and it is a testament to the amazing public servants who are part of the oath team and who help us ensure that we deliver due process to those who appear before us.
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A key ingredient to ensuring due process is keeping oath independent.
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For oath, independence means that our administrative law judges and judicial hearing officers listen to all sides, review all the evidence without favor, apply the law fairly and do all of this without any external influence.
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At oath, we believe there's one standard of justice for all.
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The members of the public who have cases of oath are treated no differently than the city agencies that appear before us.
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We do not take direction from any city agencies on our cases.
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Independence also means that oath does not comment on enforcement policies, rules or regulations or disciplinary practices of agencies that file cases with us.
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Our rule is just to adjudicate not to set policy.
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Consistent with this when we regularly provide city council with data reports concerning cases filed with oath, you'll note that we do not analyze or make recommendations regarding that data.
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Such analysis is not in our purview.
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Structurally, both consists of several divisions.
2:42:22
Our adjudications work is handled by our trials division, our special education hearings division, and our hearings division, which it's self include our adjudications division, our appeals division, and the clerk's office.
2:42:34
Across these various divisions, we handle an incredible breadth of work and including the adjudication of civil summonses issued by New York City enforcement agencies against residents and entities, disciplinary matters involving city workers, violations of the conflicts of interest law, the city, human rights law, and more, and matters involving special education services provided by the DOE.
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That's just a sample of what we do with oath.
2:42:58
Oath is also home to the center for creative conflict resolution, which is the city center for alternative dispute resolution.
2:43:06
Oat's mission requires that we prioritize the public's access to justice, and we do that in several ways.
2:43:13
We focus on language access to make sure that people who do business with OAuth can do it in the language that they choose.
2:43:19
We have a help center that provides free non legal advice to unrepresented individuals who have cases of oath.
2:43:26
And in 2023, our our help center had close to 80,000 interactions with members of the public where we were able to answer their questions and provide assistance regarding oath summonses.
2:43:38
We leverage technology to make the hearings process more efficient, including giving people the option of a callback when they have a hearing by phone.
2:43:47
We do a tremendous amount of community outreach and education work, and as you know, often in partnership with council members, where we come out to your districts and provide people with information about oath.
2:43:58
I know we've been to your own districts recently.
2:44:00
And we do so much more to help ensure equal access to justice in the city.
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As mentioned, oats' fiscal year 2024 adopted budget was $65,300,000 in the fiscal year 2024 current modified budget was $62,800,000.
2:44:17
Oat's total preliminary budget for fiscal year 2025 will be $59,400,000.
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Of the $59,400,000, 46,100,000 is in personnel services, and 13,300,000 is in other than personnel services.
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Agency headcount will be 396 for fiscal year 2025.
2:44:39
For the fiscal year 2025 preliminary budget, That does not include 348 per session judicial hearings office her officers in the hearings division, all of whom work on a part time schedule.
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In closing, oath is dedicated to providing access to fair and impartial justice for all New Yorkers.
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I look forward to our continued efforts
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the city council and welcome any questions that you may have.
2:45:03
Thank you.