MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Citing recent interagency agreements that they said may skirt state law and other management issues, Alabama lawmakers on Thursday again grilled Keith Warren about his operations of state licensure boards.
Under Warren’s leadership as executive director, the Alabama Security Regulatory Board, responsible for licensing security guards in the state, has entered interagency agreements with several other occupational boards, also managed by Warren, in the last year. The agreements amount to $16,750 per month for the ASRB.
The Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts regularly audits these boards and reports their findings to the committee. Lawmakers also questioned why the ASRB spent nearly 80% of its revenue – most of which it receives from licensees – on administrative services.
In the past three months, the five other boards – the Alabama Board of Licensure for Professional Geologists, Board of Auctioneers, Licensure Board for Interpreters and Transliterators, Board of Examiners of Landscape Architects and Drycleaning Environmental Response Trust Fund Advisory Board – entered agreements with the ASRB. Gov. Kay Ivey approved all of these in late July.
These agreements combine the boards with the ASRB for “administrative employee services, office space, investigative services and basic utilities.” They now all operate out of one building in Montgomery.
Sen. Chris Elliot, R-Josephine, called the ASRB acting as an “umbrella agent” for the group of boards “unbelievable.” He says the ASRB doesn’t have the statutory authority to absorb the administrative functions of the others either.
“For better or worse, the governor signed off on every one of these interagency agreements and signed off on (Warren’s) employment by this board,” Elliott said. “She is fully well aware of these issues, and her staff is too, and so that’s disappointing to start with.”
The Governor’s Office did not immediately return a request for comment.
Warren is trying to “sidestep” the Legislature’s oversight on the boards, which will leave lawmakers with limited options to hold them accountable, Elliott claimed.
The interagency agreements are not subject to review by the Legislative Contract Review Committee, which monitors the third-party contracts state agencies enter.
Alabama Daily News could not immediately reach Warren for comment on Thursday evening.
The more than 30-minute interrogation was part of the Alabama Legislature’s Sunset Committee meeting at the State House. The committee is responsible for regularly reviewing and reauthorizing the state boards that regulate, license and, potentially, fine dozens of professions in the state. While the boards are created under law and their members selected by the Legislature and governor, they can be managed by contracted third parties, as is the case with Warren and several boards, including ASRB.
It’s not unheard of for boards to be shifted or merged with other agencies via legislation, but the ASRB’s agreements combine six seemingly unrelated boards. The only obvious link is that Warren serves in an executive role for all of them.
What’s next
The interagency agreements all began on June 1 and expire at the end of September. Elliott said he could see the committee moving forward with sunsetting the ASRB if the boards move to keep them.
It takes the entire Legislature to allow the continued operation of the ASRB, Elliott said.
Elliott has in the past introduced legislation to organize the many occupational licensing boards under a state office for management and administrative services.
He said he plans to continue working on the issue of occupational boards but did not say if he would refile the bill in 2027. Elliott expressed that he believes Republican gubernatorial candidate and U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., would take an active role on the topic if elected.
The Sunset Committee in 2023 began its crackdown on multiple state boards for a variety of issues ranging from violating Open Records rules to charging Alabama workers licensing fees that were larger than allowed by state law. While lawmakers’ concerns have been directed at boards managed by others, Warren has regularly been called on to explain his boards’ actions and finances.
Administrative issues
The examiners’ review found that the ASRB was slow to deposit checks and process background checks.
Chair Margie Wilcox, R-Mobile, also brought up that ASRB Chair Jacob Pugh’s appointment expired several years ago. Pugh was appointed by the speaker on June 1, 2022, and that appointment expired on May 31, 2023, according to the ASRB’s website.
Warren agreed that Pugh’s term had expired, but he claimed that the board submitted reappointment requests “numerous times.” Wilcox said that she spoke with the speaker’s office and that they received no such emails. She encouraged him to follow up via a phone call next time.
Several lawmakers, including Rep. Chris Pringle, R-Mobile, said these have been “constant” issues with Warren.
“We see consistently across every board managed by Warren and Associates where they fail to notify the awarding authorities of vacancies on their boards, and they fail to deposit checks on a timely basis,” Pringle said. “On contract review, I consistently see where they fail to properly file the contracts they need. They have to get emergency contracts year after year after year for the same board. I’m sorry, but four years of emergency contracts, that’s not an emergency, that’s just not making plans.”
Warren said during the meeting that the board is working toward improving its check depositing practices.
The board has already met with the examiners to review the finding, Warren said.
“We had a policy that went into effect in ’25, changing it from 10 to 14 days, I believe, to five to seven, and so we make two deposits per week,” Warren said. “Now we’ve started doing it weekly since we have such an influx of applications coming in, and so we are on top of that and working towards not having that as a finding for the next time.”
Pringle questioned why no board member took action to renew the appointment or get a new member. When asked, the two board members present said they were unaware of the fact that Pugh’s appointment was no longer valid.
Pringle said the expired appointment means all of the board’s past actions, including entering the interagency agreements, are “in jeopardy” and might not be legally enforceable.
“That’s a really serious question because your statute does not address and say that board members could continue to serve after their appointment expires,” he said. “We can check the record and find out every single meeting you had. If you didn’t have a quorum because he was not legally appointed to that board, every action you have just taken is invalid.”
Board member interrogation
In addition to taking issue with Warren as a leader, the committee members spoke directly to the ASRB’s members, urging them to pay more attention to the administrative side.
Wilcox said that the ASRB spends the highest percent of its total revenue – 85% – and total expenses – 78.97% – on administrative professional services. The board also has an average complaint resolution time of 150 days, Wilcox said.
Those are the highest percentages and resolution time of any of the eight boards the committee looked at on Thursday, she said.
“We have a matrix that we do on all of our boards, and sadly, your board has hit the trifecta. It’s not a good payoff for the state of Alabama…” Wilcox said. “I implore you to look at yourself. I don’t know of any reason why it should take 150 days to resolve a complaint because that is what you’re set out to do: to protect the public and ensure that this profession is properly regulated.”