State agency required to provide a complete and orderly official record for review: MONUMENTAL LIFE INS. CO. v. THE DEPT OF REVENUE (COA 6/27/2008)

MONUMENTAL LIFE INS. CO. v. THE DEPT OF REVENUE
GOVERNMENT:  Agency required to provide a complete and orderly official record for review
2005-CA-002148
PUBLISHED: AFFIRMING
PANEL: HENRY PRESIDING; BUCKINGHAM CONCURS; THOMPSON DISSENTS BY SEP. OP.
FRANKLIN COUNTY
DATE RENDERED: 6/27/2008

This matter came before the COA  upon Monumental Life Insurance Company’s motion to remand the administrative record to the Kentucky Board of Tax Appeals (KBTA) for proper organization and indexing.  While it is generally appellant’s responsibility to ensure an adequate record for judicial review, the statutory duty of an administrative agency to provide a complete and orderly official record is manifestly paramount. Here, the KBTA failed to create and maintain an official record as mandated by KRS 13B.130.

KRS 13B.130 explicitly requires an administrative agency to keep an “official record” comprised of specific documents and materials. By expressly mandating such an official record, the General Assembly clearly intended that the record be organized in a manner readily capable of review. To hold otherwise would render hollow the statutory mandate to keep an official record.

Digested by Michael Stevens