An alert reader pointed out an article by Eric Boehm today, New FTC Task Force Will Put Licensing Boards On Notice, where he describes the new Economic Liberty Task Force of the Federal Trade Commission. The Task Force is focused solely on the illegal persecution of exempt practitioners by state licensing boards, with a dual role of:
- Advising state licensing boards of the limits the federal government imposes on their power.
- Taking legal action against many boards that insist on violating federal law.
All this came about when, once again, the Federal Trade Commission’s powers were affirmed in the courts, this time by the Supreme Court (FTC v. North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners, 2014).
Why a Task Force?
In that decision, the Supreme Court reiterated in extremely clear language that state licensing boards aren’t allowed to hassle anyone except their own licensees. There are a couple of exceptions, but they require that the state law governing the boards be structured in a particular way—which it generally isn’t. (It certainly isn’t in Oregon.)