Right Column
How SHD is Organized
The State Hearings Division, under the direction of the Chief Administrative Law Judge, is organized into several units. You can find mailing addresses and telephone numbers for all State Hearings Division offices by going to SHD Offices
List of the judges in the State Hearings Division - text only.
About Our Offices
We have five regional offices, each managed by a Presiding Judge, as follows:
- Bay Area Regional Office (Oakland)
- Fresno Regional Office
- Los Angeles Regional Office
- Sacramento Regional Office
- San Diego Regional Office (San Marcos)
Our other units, all located in Sacramento, are:
- Child Support Hearings Bureau
- Office of the Chief Administrative Law Judge
- Operations Support Bureau
- Quality Improvement/Disability Hearings Bureau
- State Hearings Support Section
Child Support Hearings Bureau
The Child Support Hearings Bureau is responsible for adjudicating complaints against county Local Child Support Agencies (LCSAs) by individuals that are either child support obligees or obligors. The action or inaction of the LCSAs involve all aspects of child support matters.
Operations Support Bureau
The Operations Support Bureau (OSB) is responsible for providing administrative support services to all SHD units, including budget preparation, computer services, personnel, contracts, statistical reports, and equipment inventory. OSB is also responsible for interpreter billing, special projects, and maintenance of SHD’s custom computer application. OSB also provides a liaison with county welfare departments for case processing.
Quality Improvement/Disability Hearings Bureau
The Quality Improvement/Disability Hearings Bureau (QI-DHB) is responsible for providing training to SHD staff, as well as other parties to state hearings (county staff and claimant advocates), updating paraphrased regulations (ParaRegs), producing the Notes from the Training Bureau, distributing information to staff, and scheduling interpreters for state hearings. The QI/DHB is also responsible for adjudicating disability claims under the Medi-Cal Program.
State Hearings Support Section
The State Hearings Support Section (SHSS) is responsible for prehearing and post-decision case processing. Prehearing processes include reviewing hearing requests, data entry to a computer system (mainframe), requesting position statements, scheduling hearings, and resolving postponement and reopening requests. Post-decision processes include ensuring agency compliance with released decisions and tracking rehearing requests.