Departments should give licensees a chance to come into compliance

The “second chance” doctrine holds that an agency contemplating revoking a license must “notify and then give the licensee an opportunity to put his ‘house in lawful order before more formal agency proceedings are taken.’” Valley View Convalescent Home v. Department of Social & Health Services, 599 P.2d 1313, 24 Wn.App. 192, 197-98, (1979); accord Steinberg & Son, Inc. v. Butz, 491 F.2d 988, 993 (2d Cir. 1974); accord Lambert Co. v. Secretary of the Treasury, 354 F.2d 819, 821 n.2 (1st Cir.1965); see also New York Pathological & X-Ray Laboratories, Inc. v. Immigration & Naturalization Serv., 523 F.2d 79 (2d Cir 1975). In Valley View, the Department of Social & Health Services (DSHS) instituted proceedings for revocation and decertification subject to the Home’s right to an administrative hearing. That court held that DSHS’s action was unlawful as it had not granted the licensee a reasonable amount of time to comply: “[i]t is impossible to correct deficiencies unless a licensee has knowledge of them.” Valley View Convalescent Home, 599 P.2d at 198-99. This doctrine is widely accepted in federal administrative law cases and has a foothold in Washington State law. However, the Department of Health, Department of Licensing, DSHS, and Department of Financial Institutions act like they never heard of it.