Administrative Law Flashcards

A statute gives a Utah agency authority to license contractors but says nothing about imposing fines. The agency adopts a rule authorizing $10,000 fines for unlicensed work. The rule is most vulnerable to challenge because:

Answer: It exceeds the agency's delegated statutory authority

An administrative rule is invalid if it exceeds the authority the Legislature delegated to the agency, since agencies have only the powers granted by statute.

In a formal adjudicative proceeding before a Utah agency, which evidentiary principle applies?

Answer: Evidence may be admitted if it is of a type commonly relied upon by reasonably prudent persons, even if inadmissible in court

UAPA relaxes formal evidence rules, allowing the presiding officer to admit reliable, probative evidence including hearsay that reasonably prudent persons would rely on.

Under Utah law, an agency's factual finding in a formal proceeding rests solely on uncorroborated hearsay. On review, this finding is:

Answer: Vulnerable, because under the residuum rule findings must be supported by at least some competent, non-hearsay evidence

Although hearsay is admissible administratively, Utah follows a residuum rule requiring findings to be supported by a residuum of legally competent evidence.

A Utah citizen wants to force an agency to adopt a rule addressing a safety hazard. Under the Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act, she may:

Answer: Petition the agency to make a rule, which the agency must respond to within the statutory period

Any person may petition an agency to make, amend, or repeal a rule, and the agency must respond within the timeframe set by statute and its own petition rules.

Which Utah legislative body reviews existing administrative rules and may recommend that the Legislature not reauthorize them?

Answer: The Administrative Rules Review and General Oversight Committee

Utah's Administrative Rules Review and General Oversight Committee reviews agency rules and advises the Legislature, which annually reauthorizes rules by statute.

A hearing officer in a formal Utah adjudicative proceeding privately telephones the agency's investigator to discuss disputed facts while the case is pending. This most directly violates:

Answer: The prohibition on ex parte communications in adjudicative proceedings

UAPA prohibits presiding officers from ex parte communications with parties or investigative staff about contested issues of fact in a pending adjudication.

On judicial review, a Utah court may grant relief from agency action that is 'arbitrary and capricious.' This standard is best described as asking whether the action:

Answer: Lacks any reasoned basis or is contrary to the evidence and logic before the agency

Arbitrary-and-capricious review asks whether the agency acted without a rational, reasoned basis, not whether the court agrees with the outcome.