Act, the court shall permanently enjoin him from so practicing or continuing to practice, unless and until he has been duly licensed. The remedy by injunction given hereby is in addition to criminal prosecution and punishment based thereon, and not in lieu thereof. Such cases shall be advanced for trial on the docket of the trial court, and shall be advanced and tried in the appellate court, in the same manner and under the same law and regulations as apply to other suits for injunction.

SEC. 105. The Commissioner of the District of Columbia is authorized, in accordance with regulations issued by the Council under the authority of this Act, to issue, deny, suspend, or revoke, for such cause as may be set forth in such regulations, any of the licenses authorized by any such regulations.

SEC. 106. All prosecutions for violations of any regulations issued by the Council under the authority of this Act and all proceedings looking toward the suspension or revocation of licenses or registration and toward the issue of injunctions, under the provisions of this Act or regulations made pursuant thereto, shall be conducted in the name of the District of Columbia by the Corporation Counsel or any of his assistants.

SEC. 107. Any judicial or administrative proceeding initiated prior to the effective date of this Act under any Act or part of Act specified in section 108 of this Act, or under regulations made pursuant to any of the said Acts or part of Act, shall proceed to its conclusion without regard to the provisions of this Act or of any regulations made pursuant thereto.

SEC. 108. The following Acts are repealed on the effective date of this Act: (1) An Act To regulate the practice of the healing art to protect the public health in the District of Columbia, approved February 27, 1929 (45 Stat. 1326), as amended (D.C. Code, title 2, chap. 1).

(2) An Act To amend the Act for the regulation of the practice of dentistry in the District of Columbia, and for the protection of the people from empiricism in relation thereto, approved June 6, 1892, and Acts amendatory thereof, approved July 2, 1940 (54 Stat. 716), as amended (D.C. Code, title 2, chap. 3). (3) An Act To define the term of "registered nurse" and to provide for the registration of nurses in the District of Columbia, approved February 9, 1907 (34 Stat. 887), as amended (D.C. Code, secs. 2-401 through 411).

(4) The District of Columbia Practical Nurses' Licensing Act, approved September 6, 1960 (74 Stat. 803; D.C. Code, secs. 2-421 through 440).

(5) The Physical Therapists Practice Act approved September 22, 1961 (75 Stat. 578; D.C. Code, secs. 2-451 through 472).

(6) An Act To regulate the practice of optometry in the District of Columbia, approved May 28, 1924 (43 Stat. 177; D.C. Code, title 2, chap. 5).

(7) An Act To regulate the practice of pharmacy and the sale of poisons in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes, approved May 7, 1906 (34 Stat. 175), as amended (D.C. Code, title 2, chap. 6).

(8) An Act To regulate the practice of podiatry in the District of Columbia, approved May 23; 1918 (40 Stat. 560), as amended (D.C. Code, title 2, chap. 7). (9) An Act To regulate the practice of veterinary medicine in the District of Columbia, approved February 1, 1907 (34 Stat. 870), as amended (D.C. Code, title 2, chap. 8).

(10) An Act To provide for regulation of the professional practice of certified public accountants in the District of Columbia, including the examination, licensure, registration of certified public accountants, and for other purposes, approved September 16, 1966 (80 Stat. 785; D.C. Code, title 2, chap. 9).

(11) An Act to provide for the examination and registration of architects and to regulate the practice of architecture in the District of Columbia, approved December 13, 1924 (43 Stat. 713), as amended (D.C. Code, title 2, chap. 10).

(12) The District of Columbia Barber Act, approved June 7, 1938 (52 Stat. 620), as amended (D.C. Code, title 2, chap. 11).

(13) An Act To regulate boxing contests and exhibitions in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes, approved December 20, 1944 (58 Stat. 823), as amended (D.C. Code, title 2, chap. 12).

(14) An Act To provide for the examination and licensing of those engaging in the practice of cosmetology in the District of Columbia, approved June 7, 1938 (52 Stat. 611; D.C. Code, title 2, chap. 13).

(15) An Act To regulate plumbing and gas fitting in the District of Columbia, approved June 18, 1898 (30 Stat. 477). as amended (D.C. Code, title 2, chap. 14). (16) An Act To regulate steam engineering in the District of Columbia, approved February 28, 1887 24 Stat. 247), as amended D.C. Code, title 2, chap. 15).

(17) The Professional Engineers' Regulation Act, approved September 19, 1950 (64 Stat. 845), as amended (D.C. Code, title 2, chap. 18).

(18) An Act To define, regulate, and license real-estate brokers, business chance brokers, and real-estate salesmen; to create a Real Estate Commission in the District of Columbia; to protect the public against fraud in real-estate transactions; and for other purposes, approved August 25, 1937 (50 Stat. 787), as amended (D.C. Code, title 45, chap. 14).

(19) Paragraph 44A of section 7 of the Act approved July 1, 1902, as added by the Act approved August 1, 1947 (61 Stat. 711; D.C. Code, sec. 47-2344a), relating to the licensing of undertakers.

(20) Subsection (b) of the first section of the Act entitled "An Act to grant additional powers to the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, and for other purposes", approved December 20, 1944 (58 Stat. 819, 820), as amended (D.C. Code, sec. 1-244(b)), relating to the bonding of persons, firms, and corporations, other than utility companies, engaged in the business of plumbing or gas fitting, or of installing, maintaining, or repairing heating, ventilation, air conditioning, or mechanical refrigerating apparatus, equipment, appliances, systems or parts thereof, or of installing, maintaining, or repairing apparatus, equipment, fixtures, appliances, or wiring, using or conducting electric current. (21) An Act to regulate the practice of psychology in the District of Columbia, approved January 8, 1971 (84 Stat. 1955; Public Law 91-657).

SEC. 109. This Act shall become effective one year after the date of enactment.

(Subsequent to the hearing the following material was submitted:) ASSOCIATION OF PRACTICING CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS, Washington, D.C., December 29, 1971.

GENE E. GODLEY, ESQ.,

General Counsel, Senate District Committee,

New Senate Office Building,
Washington, D.C.

DEAR MR. GODLEY: We are in receipt of Senate Bill S. 1363 which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the District of Columbia.

We disagree with the Bill, in that it gives the City Council the authority to license Certified Public Accountants. An alternative would be for the City Council to empower a Board, consisting of professional Certified Public Accountants, to license Certified Public Accountants. The members of such a Board would be cognizant of the qualifications and standards needed to protect the public.

Chairman, Senate Committee on the District of Columbia, New Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.

DEAR SENATOR EAGLETON: We are appreciative of the opportunity to submit our views in writing in connection with the referenced legislation. We are sorry to have missed the opportunity to appear before your committee at the public hearings.

The Board of Governors of the District of Columbia Institute of Certified Public Accountants is unanimously opposed to the inclusion of professional qualifications of certified public accountants in the coverage of S. 1363, a bill which has as its purpose the revision and modernization of procedures relating to the licensing by the District of Columbia of persons engaged in certain occupations, professions, businesses, trades and callings.

There are over 1,100 members of the District of Columbia Institute of Certified Public Accountants, consistuting nearly all of the CPAs practicing in the District of Columbia. As you know, it is paramount to the public interest that those in the practice of public accounting maintain the highest professional standards of technical competence and ethical behavior.

The Act regulating the professional practice of certified public accountants in the District of Columbia, including the examination, licensure, and registration of certified public accountants, was completely overhauled and modernized by the Congress in 1966 (80 Stat. 785; D.C. Code, title 2, ch. 9). The regulations issued by the District of Columbia under this Act, both substantive and procedural, are eminently satisfactory to the profession and, we believe, offer maximum protection to the public.

We have noted that section 102 of the Bill refers only to the desirability of revising and modernizing procedures relating to licensing. Section 103, however, would permit the District of Columbia Council to prescribe new or different qualifications for licensing and to eliminate such licensing qualifications which the Council determines are no longer necessary or desirable. The inclusion of the latter provision could open the practice of certified public accountancy in the District of Columbia to persons whom both the Congress and our Institute would consider unqualified. It is important to note that one of the most important accomplishments of the 1966 legislation was to increase the educational requirements for CPAs to bring them more nearly in accord with the requirements of the majority of the States in the nation as well as with the ever increasing responsibilities which certified public accountants are expected to assume.

As spokesmen for the profession in this area, we are opposed to any attempt to lower the qualifications for professional practice as a certified public accountant in the District of Columbia. We are certain that the Washington business community shares this view.

We are fully aware of and approve the trend today in many states of attempting to reorganize their administrative structures by consolidating various administrative agencies and in this way to reduce the rising cost of government and, at the same time, improve their effectiveness. However, we strongly believe that professional standards of competence should not be lowered as a matter of public protection and interest.

If you choose to report the Bill to the Senate, then we urge the following revision of the first sentence of section 103(a):

"Notwithstanding any provision of law contained in the Acts or parts of Acts specified in section 104, the District of Columbia Council (hereinafter 'Council') after consulting with representatives of the affected occupation, profession, business, trade, or calling, is authorized to make from time to time, usual and reasonable regulations which (1) prescribe new and more stringent qualifications, or restate and redefine retained qualifications, for the licensing of persons to engage in the occupations, professions, businesses, trades, and callings affected by such Acts or pats of Acts, (2) provide for the establishment of any such license and the fixing of the license fee for each such class of license. (3) prescribe new or different grounds, or restate or redefine retained grounds, for the suspension or revocation of any such license, (4) prescribe new or different procedures, or restate or redefine retained procedures, for the granting, renewal, denial, suspension, or revocation of any license, and (5) eliminate such procedures which the Council determines are no longer necessary or desirable for the granting, renewal, denial, suspension, or revocation of such licenses as are now required by such Act or parts of Acts. . . ."

The effect of the revision stated above will be to preserve the qualifications presently required for the practice of a profession in the District of Columbia. We stand ready at your convenience to assist in any way you think we can in this matter. Please feel free to call upon us at any time.

Very truly yours,

ROBERT B. VAN ARSDALE,

President.

Licensing Procedures in the District of Columbia

MARION EDWYN HARRISON, ESQUIRE*

OUTLINE

I. Introduction.

II. A Potpourri of Licenses: the Department of Licenses and
Inspections.

III. Administrative Appeal: the Board of Appeals and
Review.

IV. Judicial Review: Review on the Record

V. A Potpourri of Procedures: the Department of Occupations and Professions.

VI. Boards with Rules.

VII. Boards without Rules.

VIII. Judicial Review: Several Fora.

IX. Editorial Comment.

I. INTRODUCTION

"Myself when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument
About it and about: but evermore

Came out by the same door where in I went.'

" 1

Let no similar fate befall the reader of this report, interested as he is presumed to be in the licensing procedures of the Government of the District of Columbia. To the extent that such fate does befall the reader, it may be due in part to the brevity of this report or to the ad hoc approach by which so much of the District of Columbia's licensing is handled. As folk ballads vary from singer to singer and from generation to generation,

This paper was prepared as part of a program of the Administrative Law Section, Bar Association of the District of Columbia, designed to focus attention on the importance of administrative law in local governmental procedures. 'Fitzgerald's Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

so in large measure District Government licensing procedures are somewhat informal and sometimes erratic. These qualities are not necessarily noted as deficiencies. Whether assets or deficiencies, much that the lawyer who is accustomed to the more rigid and detailed administrative procedures of the Federal Government might find conspicuously absent is absent because a strange statutory pattern has infused no little confusion in the general licensing system over the years.2

This report excludes zoning and alcohol licensing procedures. It includes licensing coming within the jurisdiction of two independent and unrelated agencies of the District Government, the Department of Licenses and Inspections and the Department of Occupations and Professions. Each is fully staffed and headed by a Director, who reports to the Board of Commissioners. Each has extensive licensing jurisdiction, and the functions and jurisdiction of neither overlap those of the other. The Department of Licenses and Inspections (hereinafter "LICENSES AND INSPECTIONS") is housed in the District of Columbia Government Building, the Department

5

6

The author expresses appreciation for their guidance and counsel to several officials of the Office of the Secretary of the Board of Commissioners, the Office of the Corporation Counsel, the Department of Licenses and Inspections and the Department of Occupations and Professions. Because several of these officials prefer that their names not be acknowledged herein, anonymity as to all will prevail. Suffice it to say, the comments concerning some of the procedures discussed herein relate to the procedures per se and not to the personalities directly or indirectly responsible for promulgating or implementing them.

$ §47-2301, et seq., D.C. Code, constitutes the General License Law of the District of Columbia.

4 The Board of Commissioners is the Executive of the District of Columbia Government, and for many purposes, the Legislative. See §1-103 and Chapter 2, D.C. Code (1961). See also §1-216 and §1-226. All D.C. Code references, unless otherwise noted, refer to the 1961 Edition.

The Board of Commissioners has wide authority to add to and delete from the required licenses set forth by statute. §47-2344, D.C. Code. This authority has been exercised 11 times by the establishment of 11 new categories. Establishment of 6 new categories is now under consideration. A case arose challenging the authority of the Board of Commissioners to require a license for the operation of a mechanical amusement horse. Abdow v. District of Columbia, 108 A 2d 374 (1954). The Commissioners' regulation was sustained pursuant to 8847-2301 et seq and 47-2344, D.C. Code (1951). The holding in this case also notes that licensing in the District of Columbia is not a revenueraising activity.

14th and E Streets, Northwest.