Audit finds gaps at Board of Veterinary Examiners; committee moves to revisit extension

Matthew Churchill, staff to Senator Bjorkman, presented Senate Bill 98 on Feb. 17, explaining the bill would extend the Board of Veterinary Examiners’ statutory sunset from June 30, 2025, to June 30, 2031. ‘‘The Board of Veterinary Examiners, a 5 member panel that regulates the profession of veterinary care in the state, will currently sunset on 06/30/2025,’’ Churchill said.

Chris Curtis, the state legislative auditor, summarized the 2024 sunset audit and its recommendations. ‘‘Overall we found the board served the public's interest,’’ Curtis said, while noting shortcomings: final regulations were not consistently reviewed and approved by the board prior to enactment; two board members were serving with expired terms and one seat had been vacant for 31 months; and several cases were not investigated in a timely manner. The audit reported the board had 716 active licenses as of January 2024 and a surplus of approximately $200,000.

Sylvan Raab, director of the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing (CBPL), told the committee the Department of Law had changed the regulatory workflow to require legal review prior to public comment to avoid future technical discrepancies. Raab also said all five board seats are currently filled and CBPL is focused on recruitment and retention of investigators to reduce investigative backlogs.

Dr. Hal Geiger, public member and the board’s longest‑serving member, described practical impacts from a regulatory drafting error affecting the veterinarian‑client‑patient relationship (VCPR). He said the board had ‘‘spent many meetings crafting that regulation’’ and that a ‘‘vital part of the regulation we passed was simply taken out,’’ a change he attributed to technical edits by the Department of Law. Geiger said the deletion created an impractical VCPR rule that, as published, is ‘‘not practically workable’’ for veterinarians and the board is seeking assistance to restore workable language.

Committee members asked whether the board advises on broader policy issues like food security; Geiger said those topics generally fall to the Alaska Veterinary Medical Association and that the board focuses on statutory licensing and regulation.

Senators set SB 98 aside for further consideration; no vote to extend the board occurred at the Feb. 17 meeting. The audit’s three recommendations — improve regulatory review procedures, fill board vacancies promptly, and strengthen investigator recruitment and retention — were accepted in management responses included in the audit packet.