ENROLLED
H. B. 4062
(By Delegates Douglas, Varner, Kuhn, Perdue,
Caputo, Modesitt and Willison)
[Passed February 15, 2000; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact sections two-a, eight and twelve,
article one, chapter thirty of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the
duties of professional licensing boards; orientation session;
requiring legislative rules for complaint procedures; and
filing of annual reports.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections two-a, eight and twelve, article one, chapter
thirty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, to read as
follows:
§30-1-2a. Required orientation session.
(a) After the first day of April and not later than the first
day of December of each year, the auditor shall provide at least
one orientation session on relevant state law and rules governing state boards and commissions. All state agencies shall cooperate
with and assist in providing the orientation session if the auditor
requests.
(b) After the effective date of this section, all chairs or
chief financial officers of state boards and commissions newly
created by the Legislature shall attend an orientation session
designed to inform the state boards and commissions of the duties
and requirements imposed on state boards and commissions by state
law and rules. The chair or chief financial officer of the newly
created board or commission shall attend an orientation session at
the earliest possible date following the creation of the board or
commission.
(c) The orientation session shall include a minimum of thirty
minutes of instructional time dedicated to the statutory duty of
boards to investigate and resolve complaints, including procedures
for investigations, administrative hearings and remedies, due
process protections, and the duty to provide public access to
records of the disposition of complaints, as set forth in section
five of this article.
(d) Topics for the orientation session may include, but are
not limited to: The official conduct of members, state budgeting
and financial procedures, purchasing requirements, open meetings
requirements, ethics, rule-making procedures, records management,
annual reports and any other topics the auditor determines to be essential in the fulfillment of the duties of the members of state
boards and commissions.
(e) The orientation session shall be open to any member of new
or existing boards and commissions and each board or commission may
approve expense reimbursement for the attendance of one or more of
its members. The chair or chief financial officer of each existing
board or commission shall attend an orientation session within two
years following the effective date of this section.
(f) No later than the thirty-first day of December of each
year, the auditor shall provide to the chairs of the joint standing
committee on government operations a list of the names of board or
commission members attending, together with the names of the boards
and commissions represented, the orientation session or sessions
offered by the auditor during the previous year.
(g) The auditor may charge a registration fee for the
orientation session to cover the cost of providing the orientation
session. The fee may be paid from funds available to a board or
commission.
(h) Notwithstanding the member's normal rate of compensation
for serving on a board, a member attending the orientation session
may be reimbursed for necessary and actual expenses, as long as the
member attends the complete orientation session.
(i) Ex officio members who are elected or appointed state
officers or employees, and members of boards or commissions that have purely advisory functions with respect to a department or
agency of the state, are exempt from the requirements of this
section.
§30-1-8. Denial, suspension or revocation of a license or
registration; probation; proceedings; effect of suspension or
revocation; transcript; report; judicial review.
(a) Every board referred to in this chapter is authorized to
suspend or revoke the license of any person who has been convicted
of a felony or who has been found to have engaged in conduct,
practices or acts constituting professional negligence or a willful
departure from accepted standards of professional conduct. Where
any person has been so convicted of a felony or has been found to
have engaged in such conduct, practices or acts, every board
referred to in this chapter is further authorized to enter into
consent decrees, to reprimand, to enter into probation orders, to
levy fines not to exceed one thousand dollars per day per
violation, or any of these, singly or in combination. Each board
is also authorized to assess administrative costs. Any costs which
are assessed shall be placed in the special account of the board,
and any fine which is levied shall be deposited in the state
treasury's general revenue fund. For purposes of this section, the
word "felony" means a felony or crime punishable as a felony under
the laws of this state, any other state, or the United States.
Every board referred to in this chapter is authorized to promulgate rules in accordance with the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of
this code to delineate conduct, practices or acts which, in the
judgment of the board, constitute professional negligence, a
willful departure from accepted standards of professional conduct
or which may render an individual unqualified or unfit for
licensure, registration or other authorization to practice.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the
contrary, no certificate, license, registration or authority issued
under the provisions of this chapter may be suspended or revoked
without a prior hearing before the board or court which issued the
certificate, license, registration or authority. However, this
does not apply in cases where a board is authorized to suspend or
revoke a certificate, license, registration or authority prior to
a hearing if the individual's continuation in practice constitutes
an immediate danger to the public.
(c) In all proceedings before a board or court for the
suspension or revocation of any certificate, license, registration
or authority issued under the provisions of this chapter, a
statement of the charges against the holder thereof and a notice of
the time and place of hearing shall be served upon the person as a
notice is served under section one, article two, chapter fifty-six
of this code, at least thirty days prior to the hearing, and he or
she may appear with witnesses and be heard in person, by counsel,
or both. The board may take oral or written proof, for or against the accused, as it may deem advisable. If upon hearing the board
finds that the charges are true, it may suspend or revoke the
certificate, license, registration or authority, and suspension or
revocation shall take from the person all rights and privileges
acquired thereby.
(d) Pursuant to the provisions of section one, article five,
chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, informal disposition may also
be made by the board of any contested case by stipulation, agreed
settlement, consent order or default. Further, the board may
suspend its decision and place a licensee found by the board to be
in violation of the applicable practice on probation.
(e) Any person denied a license, certificate, registration or
authority who believes the denial was in violation of this article
or the article under which the license, certificate, registration
or authority is authorized shall be entitled to a hearing on the
action denying the license, certificate, registration or authority.
Hearings under this subsection shall be in accordance with the
provisions for hearings which are set forth in this section.
(f) A stenographic report of each proceeding on the denial,
suspension or revocation of a certificate, license, registration or
authority shall be made at the expense of the board and a
transcript thereof retained in its files. The board shall make a
written report of its findings, which shall constitute part of the
record.
(g) All proceedings under the provisions of this section are
subject to review by the supreme court of appeals.
(h) On or before the first day of July, two thousand, every
board referred to in this chapter shall propose rules for
legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of article
three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, which shall specify a
procedure for the investigation and resolution of all complaints
against persons licensed under this chapter.
§30-1-12. Record of proceedings; register of applicants; certified
copies of records prima facie evidence; report to governor and
Legislature; public access.
(a) The secretary of every board shall keep a record of its
proceedings and a register of all applicants for license or
registration, showing for each the date of his or her application,
his or her name, age, educational and other qualifications, place
of residence, whether an examination was required, whether the
applicant was rejected or a certificate of license or registration
granted, the date of this action, the license or registration
number, all renewals of the license or registration, if required,
and any suspension or revocation thereof. The books and register
of the board shall be open to public inspection at all reasonable
times, and the books and register, or a copy of any part thereof,
certified by the secretary and attested by the seal of the board,
shall be prima facie evidence of all matters recorded therein.
(b) On or before the first day of January of each year in
which the Legislature meets in regular session, the board shall
submit to the governor and to the Legislature a report of its
transactions for the preceding two years, an itemized statement of
its receipts and disbursements for that period, a full list of the
names of all persons licensed or registered by it during that
period, statistical reports by county of practice, by specialty if
appropriate to the particular profession, and a list of any
complaints which were filed against persons licensed by the board,
including any action taken by the board regarding those complaints.
The report shall be certified by the president and the secretary of
the board, and a copy of the report shall be filed with the
secretary of state and with the legislative librarian.
(c) To promote public access, the secretary of every board
shall ensure that the address and telephone number of the board are
included every year in the state government listings of the
Charleston area telephone directory. Every board shall regularly
evaluate the feasibility of adopting additional methods of
providing public access, including, but not limited to, listings in
additional telephone directories, toll-free telephone numbers,
facsimile and computer-based communications.
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