Crossing the Line: When Your Licensing Board Exceeds Its Authority
If you’re a licensed professional — working in healthcare, childcare or education, the trades, or a service-focused industry — you know your subject inside and out. (If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have that license.) You’re much less steeped in the intricacies of your licensing board’s statutory authority. Why would you be? In a dynamic professional world, you’re focused on staying on top of the knowledge base in your field.
Should you face disciplinary action by your board, however, seemingly arcane statutory matters could suddenly become important to track. Professional licensing boards operate under very strict parameters governed by state laws. Any action a board tries to take beyond those boundaries is considered “ultra vires,” meaning the board doesn’t have the authority to do whatever it is it’s trying to do. It usually takes a court order to bring the board back into line.
At the LLF National Law Firm, our Professional License Defense Team is steeped in the legal provisions that govern licensing boards in every state and knows what to do when a board exceeds that authority. Call us today at 888-535-3686, or send us a message online.
Boards Acting Ulta Vires: The How and the Why
Professional licensing boards can exceed their statutory (that is, government-granted) authority in a few ways. They might, for instance:
- Create new rules without permission
- Try to impose unauthorized disciplinary measures on licensees
- Start investigating matters outside their purview
- Ignore legally required due process protections
The reasons a board might exceed its authority also vary. Sometimes it’s just “regulatory drift” — that is, the board’s actions cross the line bit by bit, each step becoming normal (if legally unsanctioned) practice over time. Sometimes the board feels pressure from the public or politicians to act more forcefully, and yields to it without clearing its actions with governing bodies. Sometimes, board investigators just get carried away.
Challenging the Board When It Goes Too Far
The LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team can stop your board in its tracks when it starts going past its legal limits. One way to do that is by filing an ultra vires claim in court. Successful challenges to a licensing board’s authority usually result in a court moving to:
- Invalidate the board’s unlawful rules or actions
- Dismiss the disciplinary actions
- Restore the licensee’s suspended or revoked license
- Limit the board’s actions in the future
Success in these cases often depends on timeliness; however, most states impose strict deadlines for responding to board investigations, appealing disciplinary decisions, and petitioning for judicial review.
The LLF National Law Firm Can Help
Our Professional License Defense Team can help you rein in your board at any stage if you’re facing disciplinary action, though the earlier we start, the more straightforward the process is likely to be. We’ll analyze your board’s governing statutes and regulations, identify the overreach, and raise the crucial arguments that will lead to an appropriate resolution.
Send us a message describing your case today, or call us directly at 888-535-3686, and we’ll get started.