Board of Chiropractic Medicine: Organization, Meetings, and Rulemaking
Domain 2 is about who makes decisions and how. Items test whether you can place a decision with the Governor, the Board of Chiropractic Medicine, the Department of Health, or the Department of State - and whether you can spot a rule that exceeds the statute it implements.
Composition of the board (s. 460.404)
Seven members appointed by the Governor: five licensed chiropractic physicians and two consumer members who are not, and never have been, chiropractors. Members serve four-year terms and are subject to Senate confirmation; the Governor may remove a member for cause. Consumer members are full voting members, not observers.
The division of authority
- Department of Health: receives applications, issues and renews licenses, employs investigators, and prosecutes administrative complaints.
- Board of Chiropractic Medicine: sets standards of practice, continuing education content, advertising restrictions, disciplinary guidelines, and equivalency determinations for unusual or foreign credentials.
- Attorney General: furnishes legal counsel to the board; an assistant attorney general typically sits with the board.
Rulemaking (ss. 460.405 and 120)
Section 460.405 delegates rulemaking to the board to implement chapter 460. A rule begins with notice published in the Florida Administrative Register, which must precede a workshop or hearing by at least 21 days; after adoption, the rule is filed with the Department of State and becomes effective 20 days later unless the notice states otherwise. Emergency rules follow a shorter, separate path.
Meetings
The Sunshine Law (s. 286.011) applies: meetings are noticed, open, and recorded, and a quorum may not deliberate out of public view. A majority of appointed members is a quorum; the board elects a chair and vice chair and meets on a published schedule.
Worked example
The board publishes a proposed rule requiring 60 hours of continuing education per biennium when the statute specifies 40. Reasoning: an agency may not enlarge, modify, or contravene the statute it implements; that is an invalid exercise of delegated legislative authority under s. 120.52(8), challengeable under s. 120.56. The remedy is a statutory change, not a rule.
Traps
- Assigning standards of practice to the Department of Health.
- Assuming a rule takes effect the day the board votes; filing with the Department of State starts the clock.
- Treating consumer members as non-voting or optional.