State Licensing and Discipline for Texas Insurance Agents: A Guide to the Basics
Every Texas insurance agent should be aware of the most common grounds for being the subject of a disciplinary investigation and action by the Texas Department of Insurance as well as the basic disciplinary procedures that are involved in this process.
Although not exhaustive, § 4005.101 of the Insurance Code sets out the most general and frequently used grounds for a disciplinary action against an agent. These include:
- intentional material misstatements or fraud in connection with obtaining a license;
- misappropriation, conversion, or illegal withholding of money belonging to a client, insurer, or health maintenance organization;
- conviction for a felony;
- material misrepresentation of the terms of a policy or contract;
- engaging in fraudulent or dishonest acts or practices;
- improper offering or giving of rebates;
- violations of any insurance law; and
- failure to maintain continuing education requirements.
Texas Insurance Code § 4005.101. Note that many of these -particularly numbers (1), (3), (4), (5), and (7)- are broad-sweeping, encompassing a wide swath of potential conduct. In particular, TDI can and will interpret these provisions as they deem is needed to protect the public from fraudulent or dishonest insurance practices.
The Texas Department of Insurance can impose an array of sanctions on an agent licensee. These include outright revocation/suspension/denial of the agent’s license in its entirety or only as to specific lines of insurance. The TDI can also decide to probate a suspension and attach conditions limiting the scope of the agent’s license. Finally,
the TDI may issue a public reprimand or impose sizable fines. Id. at § 4005.104.
Typically, an agent will first realize that the Department of Insurance is considering a disciplinary action against their license when they receive a letter of investigation. This letter should inform the agent that an official investigation is being conducted by TDI and outline the basic facts that led to its initiation and that are providing its focus. From this point, TDI may conduct an informal hearing on the matter where the agent, their attorney if they have retained one, and the prosecuting staff attorney have an opportunity to present their case before a small panel. This panel will then make a recommendation to TDI. Unless the Department of Insurance decides to dismiss the matter entirely, they will then offer an order to the agent that sets out official findings and specific sanctions.
If the agent refuses to sign the order, their only option at this point is to request a full hearing before the State Office of Administrative Hearings. This is a trial-like proceeding that is complex and governed by the Administrative Procedures Act. During this process both the TDI and agent will conduct full discovery, file motions, and ultimately conduct a full evidentiary hearing before an Administrative Law Judge. Following this, the Judge will enter his findings of fact and recommended sanctions with the Department of Insurance who is then free, within certain legal bounds, to accept or reject it. Finally, TDI will enter an order that either agrees or disagrees with the ALJ and sets forth sanctions. Any further contest will require that the agent file a suit in Austin District Court, an even more complex and costly proposition.
Any insurance agent who has received a letter of investigation would be wise to contact an attorney. An attorney experienced in administrative law, professional licensing law, and representation before the Texas Department of Insurance should be able to give good advice on how to proceed. Typically, the later in the process a licensee waits to obtain professional legal advice the more costly and limited their options become. Also, it has been my observation that agents represented by an attorney with background in professional licensing matters tend to achieve better outcomes than those represented by a lawyer without this experience or, even worse, who are not represented by an attorney at all.
Department of Public Safety Arguably Denies Due Process
Recently, I have represented a pharmacist whose reapplication for his controlled substances registration was denied by the Texas Department of Public Safety when he voluntarily acknowledged that he had previously been convicted of a felony. He was one of several defendants on trial for the same set of criminal transactions and his own share of the guilt was slight. It was essentially a case of bad judgment and naivety on the part of my client. He had entered into a business relationship with the wrong people and was now paying for their misdeeds. The Federal Drug Enforcement Agency had essentially agreed and declined to take action against his controlled substances registration. In addition the Texas Pharmacy Board has so far chosen not to seek any disciplinary sanction.
In contrast, the Texas Department of Public Safety pursuant to the Texas Controlled Substances Act § 481.063(e)(2)(A) summarily denied his reapplication on the basis of his voluntary admission of his felony conviction. This section of the Health and Safety Code provides for such denial when an applicant has been convicted or placed on community supervision or probation for a felony. Fortunately, the Texas Legislature has also inserted into this chapter a provision allowing the Director of the DPS to probate a denial under § 481.063(e)(2)(A) upon a showing of good cause. The Act and the Department of Public Safety’s own administrative rules also generally allow an applicant to request a hearing wherein they may present evidence and argument in their favor.
As a hearing would almost certainly be necessary to present evidence establishing good cause for a probated order, I requested one as part of my client’s response to the DPS’s decision to deny his reapplication. In reply, the DPS sent a letter reiterating their denial and pointing to § 481.063(h). This Section holds that in the case of a denial based on a felony conviction, the provisions of the Texas Administrative Procedure Act do not apply. This is significant in that this bars access to the normal administrative process, most importantly, a licensee’s right to a full evidentiary hearing before an Administrative Law Judge.
As an attorney with extensive experience in this field, I must say that to my knowledge this is unique among Texas professional licensing law. A professional’s right to an administrative hearing following an initial decision by a licensing board is generally considered sacrosanct because of due process concerns. This is rightly so, as denial of a pharmacist’s controlled substances registration is a significant government taking, essentially the removal of a pharmacist’s ability to make a living. The Administrative Procedure Act’s hearing provisions are meant to safeguard the due process guarantees of the Texas and Federal Constitution.
The removal of APA protections in this case would be less troublesome if the DPS instead provided some adequate alternative. They could for instance, as is common among state and federal agencies, simply adopt rules providing for a hearing before a hearing examiner at the Board. They have not chosen to do so. When we sent in a remedial packet of documents outlining his limited culpability for the underlying offense, the DPS sent a terse response that they remained firm in their decision and were still not going to allow my client a hearing.
This is all the more strange given that one would think it impossible to make an informed decision as to whether good cause is applicable in a specific case unless the subject party and their attorney are given an opportunity to argue this point. As is, the current state of the Texas Controlled Substances Act and DPS practice places unlimited and unchallengeable discretion with the DPS Director as to whether or not grant a probated order. This is a clear denial of due process as a licensee is given no meaningful opportunity to contest the DPS’s findings.
What is more, given the current state of the law it is not clear whether a pharmacist denied under § 481.063(e)(2)(A) has any opportunity for judicial review either. It is basic Texas law that a party may not judicially appeal an adverse administration decision without first submitting the administrative record in evidence. As it stands there is no administrative record; no findings of fact or findings of law, nor any testimony or set of evidentiary documents. Even if the handful of short letters between the DPS and my client were found to be a sufficient administrative record, it is unclear as to what the reviewing court could use as a basis for its holding. There is simply no record that can serve as the basis for a meaningful review of the Department of Public Safety’s decision.
The DPS needs to either provide an adequate alternative hearing procedure or ask the state legislature to bring § 481.063(e)(2)(A) back within the purview of the APA. If they don’t, one can only hope that the legislature decides to fill this legal loophole on their own initiative.
Board of Nursing Abuse of License Renewal Policy
Currently I am representing a nursing client in a very serious case against the Texas Board of Nursing at the State Office of Administrative Hearings. This matter has been progressing over a long period of time and in the interim my client’s RN license came up for renewal. She filled in the required forms and sent them in along with the mandatory fee. In response she received a letter from BON informing her that they would not renew her license at this time due to the unresolved status of her SOAH proceeding. They have continued to deny her renewal application and so we have been forced to ask for a second SOAH hearing on this issue. Essentially, the BON has made my client seek a separate and additional SOAH proceeding contesting their refusal to renew her license because of the still pending status of the original SOAH proceeding. This makes little sense as a matter of law or logic.
Under the Administrative Procedure Act, a nurse who timely files an application to renew their license ensures that their current license will remain in effect until the final resolution of any ongoing disciplinary proceeding. Texas Government Code § 2001.054. Thus until a final and negative result has emerged from the original SOAH case, the Board can not affect my client’s current nursing license. The only way they could would be through an emergency suspension procedure wherein they would be required to show that my client presents such an immediate and serious threat to the public that the suspension of her license is warranted without a prior hearing. Yet, they did not choose to use this procedure and so must wait till the conclusion of the disciplinary process.
The logic of this rule is clear; unless they can meet the higher showing required of an emergency suspension procedure, the BON cannot sanction a nurse until the contested case process has ended. They have to meet their burden of proof just as any other government agency must before they can take a person’s professional license.
The correct response to my client’s renewal application would have been to either grant it or to stay any decision until the resolution of the prior SOAH action, not an outright denial. Their denial has forced my client to seek, as outlined above, a second contested case proceeding on this issue. If she did not, then after thirty days the Board’s denial would become final meaning that even if she prevailed in the original proceeding her license would have lapsed in the meantime.
What makes it especially difficult to fathom the BON’s action as taken in good faith is the fact that even if they renewed the license, they would be free to suspend, revoke, or apply any other encumbrances to it if they prevail in the ongoing SOAH hearing. A renewed license would have no effect on the array of sanctions that could be opposed if they receive a favorable finding in the underlying proceeding.
The BON’s stance on this issue represents an abusive tactic that contravenes the relevant law and forces my client to suffer the additional emotional strain and attorney fees associated with her need to contest this new issue. This is lamentably another attempt by the Nursing Board to warp the administrative process and strong-arm a nurse when it looks like they might not get what they want.
Timely License Renewal Under the Texas Administrative Procedure Act
The Texas Administrative Procedure Act (APA) offers a ready incentive for a licensee such as a doctor or nurse to seek prompt renewal of their license if they face or expect to face a disciplinary action before their respective state licensing board. Chapter 2001.054 of the Texas Government Code (The Administrative Procedure Act) provides a special rule when the professional’s license renewal is contested by the applicable administrative agency and such agency is required to provide timely notice and an opportunity to be heard, two conditions that apply to virtually every disciplinary action. When such a licensee applies for renewal, their existing license automatically remains in effect until their application has been finally determined by the state agency. Further, if the state agency decides to deny or limit the terms of the new license, the professional’s existing license does not expire until the last day for appealing the agency order or other date set by the reviewing court, whichever is later.
Thus a doctor who expects the Texas Medical Board to deny the renewal of their professional license or to take other disciplinary action against them should timely apply as they will still retain and be able to practice under their existing license. The same situation applies to a nurse facing disciplinary action by the Texas Board of Nurse Examiners, an optometrist in front of the Texas Optometry Board, a dentist before the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners, and other licensed medical and non-medical professionals.A licensed professional who fails to seek timely application for renewal loses this guaranteed extension of their existing license. Moreover, once an application is not timely made per the APA, agency rule will dictate the matter and any leverage once afforded to the licensee by a timely application for renewal is lost. Finally, if a licensee is in the midst of a disciplinary investigation it is imperative that they renew their license timely as a failure to do so might allow the agency to impose restrictions against or tacitly deny the re-registration.
