GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Michigan’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) began requiring implicit bias training for license renewal in June 2022, impacting more than 400,000 healthcare workers across the state.
The directive, as reported recently by Just the News, was based on Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s Executive Directive in July 2020 to “improve equity across Michigan’s health care system,” as recommended by her Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities – which closely followed the riots set off by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Since the mandate’s implementation, at least 132 professionals have been investigated and faced fines from $125 to $2,500, with some choosing to voluntarily surrender their licenses rather than comply.
Because Governor Whitmer believes that, as Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist said in a statement, “Implicit, unconscious bias exists within each of us,” compliance for the training includes the following: New applicants for licensure or registration will need to complete a minimum of 2 hours of training, and applicants for renewal will need to complete a minimum of 1 hour of training each year. The annual training curriculum can cover a variety of topics related to implicit bias but must incorporate strategies to reduce disparities including the administration of self-assessments.
A lawsuit with bite.
Enter Dr. Kent Wildern, a Grand Rapids dentist who was licensed to practice dentistry in the state for 40 years. He let his license lapse in 2021, deeming the implicit bias training “illegal and immoral.” Represented by Steve Dulan and the Pacific Legal Foundation, Dr. Wildern is suing LARA in the Michigan Court of Claims.
Dr. Kent Wildern argues that the training – rooted in what he calls “contested ideological premises” – lacks legal authority and infringes on his constitutional rights. “He now seeks to return to practice and reactivate his license if he can do so without being compelled to take implicit bias training,” the lawsuit states. It goes on to say, “He brings this suit to vindicate his right to earn a living free from executive overreach and unconstitutional compulsion.”
Drilling down on the lawsuit.
Dr. Wildern contends that LARA’s Rule 338.7004 (the implicit bias training requirement) is “unlawful and must be enjoined” because it was imposed without legislative authorization and violates both the nondelegation doctrine and substantive due process protections under the Michigan Constitution.
According to the lawsuit, “LARA has no legitimate government interest in requiring what amounts to no more than mandated indoctrination as a condition for the ability to practice a healthcare profession with the purpose of regulating individual healthcare professionals’ subjective states of mind.”
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If successful, Dr. Wildern’s case could have wide-reaching implications for more than 400,000 healthcare professionals in Michigan currently subject to the mandate. At its core, the lawsuit challenges not only the legality of the training itself but the broader trend of executive agencies bypassing legislative oversight to impose ideological requirements.
