Winter Quarter, 2004
Syllabus

This lesson continues our consideration of the various legal tools available to environmental health practitioners to help ensure that the public health is protected. Like any tool, in any trade, the utility of the tool often depends as much on the dexterity of the person using the tool as on the tool's design. In other words, you have to know the intended function of the tool and the particular characteristics of the tool which will affect its use. You have to know how and when to use it. 
This lesson will explore the nature and use of permits and licenses in environmental health. Professor Grad notes that the "terms permit and license are used interchangeably. Both terms denote special permission by the government to perform an otherwise prohibited activity." Usually they also contain certain conditions and performance standards designed to limit the activity to qualified individuals and to insure safe and healthful conditions. 

The most common uses of permits and licenses in environmental health are found in the food protection program, the swimming pool program, schools and institutions, plumbing, rooming houses, day care centers, on-lot sewage disposal systems, water supply systems, etc.. Not every department with a program in these areas, uses a permit system for all of them, but in light of increasingly tight budgets more and more agencies are turning to permits and licenses as one way to be able to continue to provide essential services by making the individual programs self supporting. Thus it is essential that you have a good understanding of the function and use of permit and licenses in environmental health. 

Lesson Objective

The objective for this lesson is to provide you with an understanding of the basic legal nature and use of permits and licenses in environmental health, and to enable you to discuss some of the benefits and constraints of their use in particular situations. 

Lesson Assignment

1. Grad: Chapter 6 - Permits, Licenses and Registrations, pp. 95-121. 
2. Statutes & Regulations:
   1. 42 USC 6925 - Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, §3005 . 
   2. 70 RCW 95 - Washington Solid Waste Management §§170-200 . 
   3. 173 WAC 304 - Washington Solid Waste Handling Regulations §195 . 
   4. 246 WAC 215 - Food Service Sanitation §200 ). 
   5. PHSKC Food Code, Part 91 (King Co. No. 2)
   6. Solid Waste Regulations, Part III §§3-4 (King Co. No. 8) .
3. Required Readings:
• Reading #23 - PHS Food Service Sanitation Manual, Chapter 10.
4. Case Briefs:  
• Reading #24 - In Re Department of Environmental Protection, 426 A.2d. 534 (1981).
5. Optional Readings:
   • APHA-CDC Recommended Housing Ordinance, §XII, pp. 45-47. (on bookshelf in E-179B) 

Lesson Outline

1. Definitions
   1. Registration 
   2. Permits 
   3. Licenses
2. Authority 
3. The Licensing Process
   1. Initial Application 
   2. During Term of License 
   3. Renewal
4. Effect of Licensing
   

Lecture Slides

References / Additional Readings

1. Gellhorn E, Levin RM. "Applications and Claims", Chapter 5, Section B in Administrative Law and Process in a Nutshell, West Publishing Co., 1990, pp. 142-146. 
2. Gellhorn E, Levin RM. "Suspensions, Seizures and Recalls", Chapter 5, Section D in Administrative Law and Process in a Nutshell, West Publishing Co., 1990, pp. 142-146. 
3. Baron, David S., "Licensing:? The Myth of Government Protection", Barrister, 1981, 8:46-50. 
4. McCarthy, David J. Jr., Chapter III.A. Licenses, permits and Fees, in Local Government Law in a Nutshell, West Publish ing Co., St. Louis, 1983, pp. 146-147. 
5. EPA Regulations for Permits for the treatment, storage, or disposal of hazardous wastes (40 CFR 264-265). 

For Extended Degree Students Only

Key Points

Progress Assessment Exercise

Please proceed to Lesson 8. Orders and Citations