Welcome to The State Office of Administrative Hearings

Visiting SOAH The State Office of Administrative Hearings is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and has seven staffed regional offices located throughout the state. In addition to these locations, the agency holds hearings in remote locations across Texas. Each of the remote hearing locations and each Texas county is geographically assigned to one staffed State Office of Administrative Hearings office location as a primary point of contact.

Information About Our Locations >

Chief Administrative Law Judge

Kristofer Monson has served as Chief Administrative Law Judge for the State Office of Administrative Hearings since April 2019. Monson is the fifth Chief Administrative Law Judge to serve at State Office of Administrative Hearings.

About Judge Monson >

Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to most questions have been generalized for most hearings at the State Office of Administrative Hearings. Information for your specific hearing may vary, depending on the referring agency and type of hearing.

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Our Mission

The State Office of Administrative Hearings, also called SOAH, resolves disputes between Texas agencies, other governmental entities, and private citizens either through an administrative hearing or mediation. The office is separate and independant from the agencies involved in the disputes. The administrative law judges who preside over the disputes are neutral. The specific objectives of the State Office of Administrative Hearings are to:

Conduct fair and objective administrative hearings.
Provide fair, timely and efficient decisions and proposals for decision.
Offer the opportunity for parties to resolve their disputes through mediation (or alternative dispute resolution).

More About Our Mission and Philosophy >