MARYLAND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW OUTLINE
I. Agency Powers and Separation of Powers
a. Quasi-Legislative and Quasi-Judicial Powers of Agencies
i. Agencies have two important powers
1. Quasi-Legislative powers – powers to make law and policy
a. Acknowledgement that agencies have the best expertise in specific fields and that they are in the best position to make regulations for their agencies
2. Quasi-Judicial – power to adjudicate and enforce their policy
b. Regulations
i. APA definition – a statement, an amendment, or repeal of a statement that has:
1. general application;
2. future effect; and
3. is adopted by an agency to
a. detail or carry out a law that the agency administers, or
b. to govern the agency’s organization, procedure, or practice
ii. Exceptions
1. a statement that concerns only the internal management of the agency, and
2. does not affect direct the rights of the public or the procedures available to the public
iii. Delmarva Power & Light
1. PSC adopted several standards to prevent unfair cross-subsidization between all electric and gas utilities in transactions with their affiliations.
a. Power companies challenged the standards because the PSC failed to follow APA regulations
b. PSC countered that the standards were not regulations
2. Court, citing the APA definition of regulations, said that the standards were regulations:
a. They were of general application – they applied to the entire gas and electric industry which the PSC regulated
iv. Massey
1. DOC had 7 volumes of directives—none of which went through the APA regulation adoption procedure
2. P, prisoner, challenged the directives—one stating that he had to serve extra-time
a. State said that they were not regulations because the directives dealt with internal management
3. Court said that the directives were regulations
a. They have general application through all the correctional institutions and apply to all inmates
c. Contested Cases
i. APA Definition – A proceeding before an agency to determine:
1. a right, duty, statutory entitlement, or privilege of a person that is required by statute or constitution to be determined only after an opportun
terest that will be affected by the official action;
2. the risk of an erroneous determination through the process accorded and the probable value of added procedural safeguards; and
3. the public interest and administrative burdens, including costs, that the added or substitute procedures would entail
ii. Lytle – it was argued that the MVA failed to take into account the margin of error in breathalyzer tests, violating due process
1. Court rejected the due process claim:
a. Driver’s license suspension is a significant interest;
b. The risk of an erroneous decision is low
c. There is no better way to test blood alcohol levels
Separation of Powers – Since all administrative agencies are part of the Executive Branch, the issue arises whether the quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial powers violate the separation of powers doctrine in the Maryland Declaration of Rights
