1.2 Board Authority, Composition & Statutory Powers

Why Board structure is a Pass/Fail JP topic

Jurisprudence items are not only “what may a counselor do with a client.” They also ask who regulates you, how that body is built, and what it may do when someone uses a protected title without a license. In Mississippi, that body is the Mississippi State Board of Examiners for Licensed Professional Counselors. Rule 1.1 states that the Legislature granted statutory authority for licensing professional counselors in 1985. Miss. Code §§ 73-30-1 et seq. of the Mississippi Code of 1972, Annotated, provides for regulation of the practice of counseling and for use of the titles Provisional Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Professional Counselor by persons who offer counseling services to the public for fees.

This OpenExamPrep section is independent study material. It is not a Board publication and does not claim Board, CCE, NBCC, or ACA approval.

Who the Board is, and how to reach it

Board applicant pages list the office as 239 North Lamar Street, Suite 402, Jackson, MS 39201, office telephone 601-359-1010, and email info@lpc.ms.gov. Use that address for Board business. CCE Academy (Greensboro, North Carolina) administers the JP exam platform; website-login problems go to CCE, not to a guess that the Board staff can reset a CCE password.

Rule 1.3 states the purpose of the rules: interpret and apply the statute and communicate procedures for establishing the Board, selecting members, Board-meeting rules, standards and qualifications for licensure, evaluating applicants, issuing and renewing licenses, setting fees, and establishing disciplinary criteria. That list is the Board’s job description in miniature. The Board is not a professional association, a union, or ACA’s Mississippi chapter.

Rule 1.2 Non-discrimination of Applicants and Licensees

Rule 1.2 is how the Board must treat people in the licensure file. The Current.pdf states, in Board language, that the Mississippi State Board of Examiners for Licensed Professional Counselors does not discriminate against any Applicant or Licensee because of race, color, creed, gender, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, age, physical handicap, disability, or political affiliation. The rule cites Miss. Code Ann. § 73-30-9 (Rev. 2018) as its source. The protected people are Applicants and Licensees, not “clients” as a class. The listed bases are the closed list to recite on the Pass/Fail JP exam; do not swap in a shorter civil-rights slogan or drop political affiliation, creed, or physical handicap because another code uses different words.

Do not collapse Rule 1.2 into ACA C.5 Nondiscrimination. Rule 1.2 is a Board-to-Applicant/Licensee duty: it governs application review, issuance, renewal, audit, and discipline. ACA C.5 is a counselor-to-client (and prospective-client) duty under the ACA Code. A stem in which the Board sits on a P-LPC file because of the applicant’s sexual orientation or political affiliation is Rule 1.2 / § 73-30-9. A stem in which a licensee refuses to counsel a current client because of that client’s religion or sexual orientation is ACA C.5, taught later with the ACA chapters. Both can appear on the same exam; they are not the same rule.

Current composition versus a historical trap

Rule 3.1.B and Miss. Code § 73-30-5 (as reconstituted) put five people on the Board:

• one member from each of the four congressional districts of Mississippi, plus
• a member at large,
• appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the State Senate.

The statute’s reconstitution language dates the four districts as they existed on January 1, 2002. The same section records that initial appointments used one member from each of five congressional districts, and that from and after January 1, 2004 the Board was reconstituted to four district seats plus an at-large seat. A stem that says “five members, one from each of Mississippi’s five congressional districts” is quoting the pre-reconstitution design, not the current Board.

A nomination list goes to the Governor from the Mississippi Counseling Association (MCA) for each vacancy. The list must include at least two (2) names from each congressional district in which a vacancy exists, with attention to balancing Board membership. MCA nominates; it does not seat the member. The Governor fills appointments within sixty (60) calendar days after the vacancy occurs.

Nominees must be Licensed Professional Counselors in good standing and qualified electors of the State of Mississippi. The Board will consist of three (3) Licensees primarily engaged in private or institutional practice in counseling and two (2) Licensees primarily engaged in teaching, training, or research in counseling at the corporate or university level. At appointment, no more than one person employed by or receiving compensation from any one institution, organization, or partnership may be appointed.

Initial Board appointments were staggered. After those initial appointments, all terms shall be for five (5) years. No Board member shall succeed himself for an additional five-year term without waiting five (5) years after having served one full five-year term. Rule 3.1 adds that a member may hold office until a successor has been appointed and qualified, or a maximum of twelve (12) months after the term ends. Board members are reimbursed for necessary and ordinary expenses and mileage at the public-employee rate.

Officers, oaths, conflicts, and meetings

Board members take an oath, administered by a person qualified by law to administer oaths, to perform their duties faithfully. Upon taking the oath they will be LPCs in good standing. A Chair, Vice-Chair, and Secretary/Treasurer are chosen from the members in January of odd-numbered years. Officer terms are two (2) years. If an officer seat opens early, the Board calls a special election to fill it until the next regular election. All Board members sign the Board Conflict of Interest policy. A Board member shall not vote on any applicant that member previously supervised. Miss. Code § 73-30-7(3) also provides that after a person has applied for licensure, no Board member may supervise that applicant for a fee.

Rule 3.2 and § 73-30-7(4) require at least two (2) regular meetings each year. Additional meetings may be called by the Chair. Here the sources diverge slightly: the statute allows additional meetings at the written request of any four (4) members; Rule 3.2.C allows additional meetings at the written request of a quorum. If an item quotes a source, match that source. Do not invent a numeric quorum the Current.pdf does not state in the sentence you were given. Meeting dates, times, and locations are published on the Board’s website and the Department of Finance and Administration’s Public Meeting Notice website. Meetings are open to the public. An organizational meeting is held in January of odd-numbered years to elect officers.

Miss. Code § 73-30-7(2) directs the Board to adopt rules in compliance with the Mississippi Administrative Procedures Law, using the standards of the American Counseling Association as a guide, not inconsistent with Chapter 30. That sentence is an instruction to the Board about how to write rules. It is not a claim that this OpenExamPrep guide is an ACA product. § 73-30-7(8) individually exempts Board members from civil liability as a result of Board action.

What the Board can actually do

Rule 3.1.A states the Board exists to regulate the profession of counseling and the P-LPC and LPC titles in Mississippi. It has authority to ensure that no one practices counseling in the state who is not licensed by this Board or exempt from licensure by statute. If the Board learns that a person is using the P-LPC or LPC title, or offering professional counseling or psychotherapy to the public for a fee, monetary or otherwise, without authority, it proceeds under Miss. Code §§ 73-30-1 et seq., including § 73-30-19. Statutory exemptions (school counselors, clergy, and other listed roles) are a later chapter; the exam-ready point here is that exemption is statutory, not a courtesy the Board invents case by case.

The Board accepts applications, issues licenses to those who meet full requirements, runs renewal and audits, investigates complaints, determines merit, and imposes discipline. It makes reasonable rules for its operation, receives and disburses fee revenue, and gives the final interpretation of Part 2201, binding on all Applicants and Licensees. On complaint by a citizen or on its own motion it may compel attendance of witnesses, request production of documents, administer oaths, hear testimony, and receive evidence within its jurisdiction.

Miss. Code § 73-30-19 makes it a misdemeanor to represent oneself by the title Licensed Professional Counselor or Provisional Licensed Professional Counselor without first complying with Chapter 30. Conviction carries a fine of not less than $500 and not more than $1,000 for each offense. That is title-use criminal law, not the Board’s full administrative sanction list (reprimand, restriction, suspension, revocation), which later chapters cover.

Realistic JP-exam scenario

A study-group leader tells new graduates, “Mississippi’s counseling Board has five members, one from each of the state’s five congressional districts, and MCA appoints them.” That sentence fails two current rules at once. After January 1, 2004, the Board is four district seats plus an at-large seat, still totaling five, and MCA nominates (at least two names) while the Governor appoints with Senate advice and consent. The same leader adds, “They only meet if someone files a complaint.” Rule 3.2 and § 73-30-7 require at least two regular meetings each year, with additional meetings on the Chair’s call (and, depending on the source quoted, a written request from four members or from a quorum). If the group is asked who can sit, the answer is LPCs in good standing who are Mississippi qualified electors, in a 3 + 2 practice-versus-teaching mix, not “any mental-health licensee the Governor likes.” The same hour, a classmate who is gay asks whether the Board may freeze the P-LPC application for that reason: that is Rule 1.2, which names sexual orientation among the bases on which the Board may not discriminate against an Applicant or Licensee. A different classmate who does not want to continue counseling a client of another religion is asking about ACA C.5, not about Rule 1.2 or about how the Board is seated.