Housing Committee
Judiciary Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS CONDUCTED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING
SUMMARY: PA 13-234 transferred, from the Department of Social Services (DSS) to the Department of Housing (DOH), certain housing programs under which individuals denied program benefits could request an administrative hearing. This act establishes the same hearing and appeals procedures for DOH as existing law does for DSS. By law, the DOH programs in which individuals may request a hearing are the (1) Rental Assistance Program (RAP), (2) Transitionary Rental Assistance Program (T-RAP), and (3) Security Deposit Guarantee Program.
Statutes governing RAP and T-RAP previously required that hearings for these programs follow the Uniform Administrative Procedure Act (UAPA) (CGS § 4-176e et seq. ). The act instead requires that these hearings follow its procedures. By practice and regulation, hearings for the Security Deposit Guarantee Program already follow the act's procedures (Conn. Agencies Regs. § 17b-802-12).
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2015
HEARING AND APPEALS PROCEDURES
The act sets the same hearing and appeals procedures for DOH as existing law sets for DSS. Generally, this means that:
1. an aggrieved person, or his or her conservator, must apply for a hearing within 60 days after the commissioner's decision;
2. the commissioner must (a) provide the aggrieved person at least 10 days' notice of the hearing date, time, and location, and (b) hold the hearing within 30 days after receiving the application;
3. the commissioner or hearing officer must render a final decision no later than 60 days after the hearing;
4. DOH must take final administrative action on the matter within 90 days after the hearing request;
5. a person aggrieved by the department's final decision may appeal under the UAPA (generally, under the UAPA, aggrieved parties have 45 days to appeal final agency decisions to Superior Court);
6. an aggrieved person who fails to timely appeal to Superior Court may petition the commissioner in writing for an extension; and
7. the commissioner may consider petitions received within 90 days after the final decision and extend the UAPA's appeals deadlines for good cause.
OLR Tracking: KS: HP: SD: cmg