The Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) has functioned since 1979 as a central tribunal with the authority to conduct administrative hearings for any agency, board or commission of the city. OATH was established by Executive Order No. 32 in 1979, to professionalize the administrative hearing system serving city government. To secure this objective, OATH was meant to function as an independent agency of government so that its judges would not be unduly influenced by the prosecutor or petitioning agency.

On August 12, 2008, Mayor Bloomberg signed legislation into law consolidating the Environmental Control Board (ECB) under the jurisdiction of OATH. The law designates the OATH Chief Judge to chair ECB. ECB is the City's second largest tribunal and hears cases involving public health and safety violations issued by 12 different City agencies. Each year, some 700,000 violations are filed with ECB and result in more than 160,000 hearings and decisions. ECB was previously part of the Department of Environmental Protection, one of the enforcement agencies that appear before the tribunal. By moving ECB under OATH's management, ECB will no longer be part of an agency that issues violations and will benefit from OATH's experience in tribunal administration. Together, OATH and ECB form one of the nation's largest central tribunals at the municipal level of government.

Mayor Signs Bill Transferring ECB to OATH