Board Meeting Minutes

Board meetings are open to the public, except that the board may meet in closed session to prepare, approve, administer or grade examinations, or to deliberate the qualification of an applicant for license or the disposition of a proceeding to discipline a licensed veterinarian. Notices & Proposed Agendas for meetings are posted one week prior to an upcoming meeting on the Dates & Agenda page. Board meeting minutes are posted below after being reviewed and ratified at each subsequent meeting.

Statement of Obligations (Revised by Board Legal Counsel on October 6, 2020)
The Statement of Obligations for the LA Board of Veterinary Medicine and its appointed – and Senate confirmed – Board Members is read at the start of every meeting of the Board and a copy is included in the Board Book and the Minutes.

The Louisiana Board of Veterinary Medicine (being a state regulatory agency within the LA Department of Agriculture and Forestry) is a governmental entity whose mandate is to protect the public/animals by enforcing its jurisdiction of interpreting and implementing applicable laws, and the rules it promulgates, regarding the acceptable standard of veterinary care in LA. The Board has sole and sovereign authority in Louisiana over the practice of veterinary medicine as granted to it by the Legislature. The Board members are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate and take an Oath of Office. The Board members in discharge of their duties are also held to the ethical standards of state government officials.

By statute, candidates for the Governor’s consideration for appointment to the Board are made by the state professional association. While a Board member may hold general membership in a professional association, he is legally and ethically bound to his Oath of Office and will discharge his duties without any considerations or goals beyond his lawful obligations on the Board. A Board member does not represent the interests of the practitioners of veterinary medicine or a professional association while he serves on the Board, nor will he use his office to engage in any conduct which may constitute restraint of lawful trade.