Court Opinion

ID: 9756414
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 21:27:39.032466+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:21.346517
License: Public Domain

Concurring Opinion by
Judge Crumlish, Jr.,
filed December 31, 1970:
I must agree with the opinion of the Court that the order for the removal of Virginia Woodring Moore by the Commissioner of Professional and Occupational Affairs was without authority because the Commissioner was not the appointing authority for the position of Secretary, State Board of Nurse Examiners. However, in reaching this conclusion it was noted that the Secretary functioned as the fulltime executive manager of the Licensing Board exercising both executive and administrative authority over the daily operations of the Board. I cannot agree that this is her proper function.
It is apparent that the crux of the dispute between the Commissioner and the Board relates to the authority to control the daily administration of the Board. The Secretary has indeed heretofore been the executive manager of the Board of Nurse Examiners and has exercised, as such, control over the administration of that office. Since it is the Board to whom she is answerable, she has considered the Board to be her supervisor on both professional and administrative matters. While the sole question before us for adjudication is the propriety of the dismissal, I feel it necessary to comment on the underlying problem relating to the scope of responsibility of the Secretary.
Section 810 of the Administrative Code, 71 P.S. §279.1, sets forth the duties of the Commissioner as follows: “(1) to establish reciprocity with other states as regards professional and occupational licenses issued by the department, unless otherwise provided by law; (2) to keep the records of all of the professional and occupational examining boards in the City of *83Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania; (3) to issue all certificates and other official documents of the various professional and occupational examining boards in the department. The officers and members, or any of them, of any such examining board may sign such certificates and other documents if the board shall have taken action authorizing such signatures; (4) to assist any professional and occupational examining board within the department, if, as and when requested by the board; (5) to cooperate with the several professions and occupations whose examining bodies are ■within the department in the determination and establishment of standards of professional education; (6) Whenever under any act of Assembly the right to practice any profession or work at any trade or occupation is conditioned upon examination, licensure or registration by or within the department, unless otherwise provided by law, to hold the examination, make such investigations, require such information and do and perform all other acts which may be necessary to determine whether applicants for licensure or registration are qualified to practice the profession or work at the trade or occupation within this Commonwealth, and in proper cases to issue licenses and certificates of registration: Provided, however, that the power and duty of the Department of Public Instruction to determine, value, standardize and regulate the preliminary education, both secondary and collegiate, of those to be hereinafter licensed or registered to practice any profession or work at any trade or occupation in this Commonwealth shall remain as heretofore and any action so taken shall be made known to the Commissioner of Professional and Occupation Affairs; (7) Unless otherwise provided by law, to fix the fees to be charged by ■the several professional and occupational examining boards within the department; (8) to be responsible for all administrative affairs of each of the professional *84and occupational examining boards and to coordinate their activities; (9) to perform all the powers and duties relating to professional and occupational examining boards that heretofore were imposed upon the Superintendent or the Department of Public Instruction”. (Emphasis added.) Moreover, the Code does not establish the duties of the Secretary, it simply creates the position and names the appointing power in section 418.
It is clear that the Commissioner is responsible for the administration of the Board of Nurse Examiners. Where these powers and duties are provided for by the Act, the Board cannot usurp them. Neither, therefore, can the Board assign them to its designee, the Secretary.
The Board has assumed its own administration and provided for administrative supervision through its Secretary. While these functions rest with the Commissioner, his failure to prohibit the Secretary from exercising these powers does not provide him with the right to dismiss her Avhen her performance does not satisfy him. Instead, he should have relieved her of these duties and assumed them himself under section 810. As I have said, section 214 empowers him to appoint all administrative personnel.
The legislative record of the Aet of June 3, 1963, P. L. 63, 71 P.S. 279.1, which established the Commissioner, leaves no doubt that it was the legislative intent that he as a “Commissioner” who would have complete control over the administration and purse strings of the State Boards. See Legislative Journal — House, pages 285-295 (March 12, 1963); Legislative Journal— Senate, pages 459-462 (May 14, 1963).
This Court has grappled with the difficult question of whether the Commissioner should have the power to dismiss the Secretary. It has observed that the Administrative Code does not specifically answer this point. I am of the opinion that this omission stems *85not from lack of foresight by the Legislature but instead from the fact that the functions of the Secretary have been expanded by the Board beyond the purpose of the Act which intended the installation of an Administrative Coordinator. If the Commissioner would assert his proper authority over the administration of the Board, instead of attacking the performance of those already performing his duties, the power struggle evidenced by this action could give way to proper administration under the Code.