Member boards are consumer protection agencies. We are responsible for ensuring that companies and individuals who provide regulated services to people in Alabama have the necessary education and experience to provide those services in a safe, ethical and competent manner. Agencies exist to ensure that a doctor has medical training, an architect can produce plans for sound construction projects, a real estate sales person can effectively assist a family on buying or selling a home, a manicurist practices acceptable sanitary practices, a homebuilder can follow building codes, a plumber safely install a water heater or that an electrician knows how to wire your home without causing a fire. Agencies have the ability to take action on behalf of consumers when persons who hold licenses conduct business in unsafe or unethical ways.