The OAH was created in 1990 by legislation enacted in 1989 to provide impartial and independent administrative law judges to hear agency cases. Prior to that, each Maryland agency conducted its own hearings, an administrative process that was criticized as the deciding officer was either an employee or member of the agency, creating the possibility of a lack of impartiality. In addition, there were no uniform training or qualifications for the 92 hearing examiners that were distributed among the various state agencies. The formation of the OAH allowed for a lesser number of administrative law judges, currently numbering around 60, to receive specialized training on administrative law. See also United States administrative law References External links Office of Administrative Hearings website Maryland law Administrative Hearings State administrative law in the United States 1990 establishments in Maryland