Opinion ID: 1965359
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: The Medical Advisory Board

Text: Since 1947, [8] the Administrator of the MVA has had the authority to appoint a Medical Advisory Board, consisting of qualified physicians and optometrists, in order to enable the Administration to comply properly with the provisions of [the Code] regarding the physical and mental condition of individuals who seek to drive on highways in this State. Maryland Code (1977, 2006 Repl.Vol.), Section 16-118(a) of the Transportation Article. [9] The Administrator may choose to refer to the MAB, the case of any licensee . . . if the Administrator has good cause to believe that the driving of a vehicle by him would be contrary to public safety and welfare because of an existing or suspected mental or physical disability. Id. at 16-118(c). After the Administrator refers a case, the Board reviews the individual's physical and mental condition based upon information received from the driver and the driver's doctors and treatment providers, see COMAR 11.17.03.03 (2007), [10] and makes a recommendation to the MVA. See Maryland Code (1977, 2006 Repl.Vol.), Section 16-118(e) of the Transportation Article. The Board does not have the power to take any action against an individual's driver's license, although potentially it could recommend denial, suspension, modification or revocation of a driver's license, as well as reexamination at an MVA office. See id. at 16-207; COMAR 11.17.03.04-.06 (2007). If the MVA adopts the Medical Advisory Board's proposed actions, the driver is then notified and is entitled to request an administrative hearing to challenge the MVA's actions. See COMAR 11.17.03.05.06 (2007). The MVA receives reports about individual drivers potentially prompting a MAB referral from numerous sources, such as the driver. See COMAR 11.17.03.02-1A (2007). Moreover, as the MVA has indicated, and counsel for Ms. Delawter conceded, private citizens, hearing judges, law enforcement officers, and presumably any individual, including a relative, also could contact the MVA out of concern regarding a driver's capability behind the wheel. See also 82 Op. Att'y Gen. 189, 189 (Md.1997) (noting that cause for a referral to the MAB can come from police officers or other citizens); 82 Op. Att'y Gen. 111, 112 (Md.1997) (Occasionally, the MVA's `good cause to believe that [a] licensee is unfit . . .' derives from a report from someone who has observed the individual's driving practices. Indeed, the information might come from a relative or someone else close to the driver. The informant might provide information to the MVA out of a fear that the driver's deteriorated health could lead to a tragic accident if the driver continued to drive.) (emphasis added) (alteration and ellipsis in original). Although anyone can provide such information to the MVA and although the ALT in the instant case purported to refer Ms. Delawter to the Board, only the Administrator of the MVA has the authority to refer to the MAB pursuant to the express language of Section 16-118(c) of the Transportation Article, Maryland Code (1977, 2006 Repl.Vol.), which states that [t]he Administrator may refer to the Medical Advisory Board. . . . The MVA has informed the ALJs of this, iterating that regardless of the terminology used, a `;referral to the Medical Advisory Board by an ALJ, as purportedly , made in the instant case, will be treated only as a recommendation. [11]