Kansas Professional Licensing Attorney Explains Discipline Of Technical Professionals

In Kansas, architecture, landscape architecture, professional engineering, professional geology, and professional surveying are known as technical professions. The Kansas Board of Technical Professionals (“the Board”) issues licenses for technical professions. The Board also has the authority to institute disciplinary actions for technical professionals as well.  The Board works to make certain that each technical professional licensee maintains the highest standard of work in their profession and maintains the highest level of ethical responsibility. Failure to maintain the standards of a technical professional leads to disciplinary action. Kansas professional licensing attorney Danielle Sanger represents professional licensees against disciplinary actions with great zeal and vigor with tremendous results.

As with all professional licensing boards in Kansas, the Kansas Board of Technical Professionals authority to issue licenses and determine disciplinary action comes from state law. The Kansas legislature charged the Board with the task of maintaining the highest level of integrity, skill, and technical proficiency. Ensuring that each technical professional licensee aspires to those laudable attributes preserves the public trust and safeguards against damage and injury to the public to whom the licensees provides a service.  Each person wishing to practice a technical profession must satisfy the Board based upon satisfactory testing scores and possess the minimum character traits before the Board issues a license.

Concomitant with the Board’s authority to issue a license is the Board’s authority to discipline a license. Kansas law explicitly limits the Board’s authority to discipline its members. Discipline may take the form of probation, censure, reprimand, suspension or revocation of a license. The Board has the authority to start disciplinary action for allegations concerning obtaining a license to practice a technical profession fraudulently, gross negligence or incompetence, misconduct or showing no regard for the rights of other people while practicing in the profession. The Board may also issue discipline for a conviction of a felony criminal act in Kansas or another state or committed against the United States. The Board may discipline a business organization as if the business organization was an individual. Also, the Board possesses the authority to reinstate a license which the Board revoked if seven members of the Board agree to reinstate the license.

At the initial disciplinary stage, the Board conducts a hearing to determine if any wrongdoing occurred and what, if any discipline, should be levied. The Board has the power to order witnesses to attend and testify at a hearing before the Board. The Board may also compel any witness to bring documents, records, books, or other materials relevant to the hearing.  The hearings must be held according to Kansas’ administrative procedure act. Therefore, the licensee facing discipline must receive proper notice of the allegations, have the right to be represented by counsel, and to examine witnesses for or against them. Proper notice to the licensee includes a provision alerting the licensee that they have 15 days in which to appeal the Board’s decision.

A person aggrieved by the Board has the right to appeal the decision to a court in Kansas with jurisdiction over the issue.  The licensee may appeal the final decision of the Board to the courts and only after exhausting all “administrative remedies.” In a rare instance, the court will permit review of the Board’s decision before the Board’s final action. The licensee has 30 days from the date of service of the Board’s final action to appeal to a court for judicial review.

Technical Professional Need Superior Representation

Representing yourself in matters where your livelihood and career are at stake can be costly. You should rely on competent counsel who a skilled at defending professional licensees like Kansas Professional Licensing Attorney Danielle Sanger. Attorney Sanger has the experience to protect your career and preserve your way of life. Call attorney Sanger today at 785-979-4353 to discuss your case and learn the difference passion and experience will make for you.

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