Bill Summary for S 473 (2019-2020)

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Summary date: 

Apr 2 2019

Bill Information:

View NCGA Bill Details2019-2020 Session
Senate Bill 473 (Public) Filed Tuesday, April 2, 2019
AN ACT TO REFORM FINANCIAL REPORTING OF OCCUPATIONAL LICENSING BOARDS, COMBINE THE FUNCTIONS OF THE NORTH CAROLINA BOARD OF BARBER EXAMINERS AND THE NORTH CAROLINA BOARD OF ELECTROLYSIS EXAMINERS, AUTHORIZE AGENCIES TO MAKE TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS TO ADOPTED RULES WITHOUT REVIEW BY THE RULES REVIEW COMMISSION, AUTHORIZE THE CODIFIER OF RULES TO MAKE TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS TO ADOPTED RULES, CLARIFY THAT A PARTY MAY COMMENCE A CONTESTED CASE IN A DISPUTE WITH AN AGENCY WITHOUT PETITIONING THE AGENCY FOR RULE MAKING OR OBTAINING A DECLARATORY RULING, REVISE THE PROCESS FOR THE REVIEW AND READOPTION OF EXISTING RULES, AND EXPAND THE MASSAGE AND BODYWORK THERAPY BOARD.
Intro. by Wells.

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Bill summary

Part I.

Directs the Joint Legislative Administrative Procedure Oversight Committee (Committee) to study whether the definition of occupational licensing board under GS 93B-1 and the definition of occupational licensing agency under GS 150B-2 should be specific lists of occupational licensing boards in order to clarify which state agencies should be considered occupational licensing boards for purposes of GS Chapters 93B and 150B. Directs the Committee to recommend which state agencies should be included under each definition if that determination is made, and report the results of the study to the 2020 General Assembly. 

Amends GS 143B-426.39, requiring the State Controller to develop and prescribe a uniform format for financial statements of the annual financial audits required by each licensing board pursuant to GS 93B-2(b). Requires consultation with the State Auditor and occupational licensing boards in doing so. The financial statement audit reporting format is to be used for reports submitted on or after July 1, 2020. 

Enacts GS 93B-2.1, establishing the fiscal year for each licensing board to begin on July 1 and end on June 30. Effective July 1, 2020, and applies to the fiscal year beginning on that date.

Requires the State Controller to consider whether to integrate occupational licencing board data into any new standard accounting system or accounting software acquired and used by the State.

Amends GS 93B-2 as follows. Requires the occupational licensing boards' annual reports to be filed with the Attorney General only, no longer requiring filing with the Secretary of State and expands upon the items that must be included in the report to include the number of applications applying for licensure under GS 93B-15.1(k) and the number of licenses granted. Current law requires each licensing board to electronically file an annual financial report with the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM), and the Joint Legislative Administrative Oversight Committee (Administrative Procedure Oversight Committee). Amends GS 93B-2(b) to now require each licensing board to conduct an annual financial audit of its operations and provide an electronic copy of the audit to the State Auditor, the State Controller, the OSBM, and the Administrative Procedure Oversight Committee. Additionally requires the audit to be conducted in compliance with auditing standards for governmental entities developed by the US Government Accountability Office, and provided in the form prescribed by the State Controller pursuant to GS 143B-426.39, as amended above. Amends GS 93B-4, which requires the State Auditor to audit licensing boards from time to time, to authorize the State Auditor to perform an audit upon the recommendation of the Administrative Procedure Oversight Committee. Makes conforming changes to GS 93B-2 and GS 93B-4. Effective July 1, 2020.

Part II. 

Repeals GS Chapters 86A (regarding Barbers) and 88A (Electrolysis Practice Act).

Enacts new GS Chapter 86B (Barbers and Electrolysis Act). Prohibits a person from practicing barbering, electrolysis, or laser, light source, or pulsed-light treatments; opening or operating a barbershop or electrologist or laser hair practitioner office; or teaching barbering, electrolysis, or laser, light source, or pulsed-light treatments in a school on or after January 1, 2020, without a state license issued pursuant to the new chapter, with specified exemptions. Makes practice without a license in violation of this Chapter a Class 3 misdemeanor. Defines barberelectrologist/electrolocist, and laser hair practitioner, as well as seven other terms related to the Chapter. Establishes the NC Board of Barber and Electrolysis Examiners (Board), with seven members appointed by the Governor, to be appointed for three-year terms with initial appointments to be made on or before October 1, 2019, and initial terms to begin on January 1, 2020. Provides Board members are subject to removal by the Governor for good cause. Provides for Board vacancies, the election of Board officers, Board meetings, and compensation of Board members. Prohibits the Board from issuing a license to teach barbering to any Board member during that member's term on the Board. Prohibits a Board member from being employed by the Board for at least one year after that member's term expires. Charges the Board with the administration of GS Chapter 86B and authorizes the Board to investigate violations of the Chapter.

Sets forth qualifications for a licensure as a registered barber, a barber apprentice license, an electrologist license, a license as a laser hair practitioner, a barber instructor license, a certificate as an electrology instructor, and a license as a laser hair practitioner instructor. Provides for temporary employment permits for persons who have completed the required hours of a barber school, electrologist school, or laser hair practitioner school, but have not yet taken the required examination, allowing them to practice under the supervision of a licensed barber, electrologist, or laser hair practitioner, as appropriate. Provides for the licensure of applicants licensed and in good standing in other states. Provides for the licensure of barbershops. Authorizes the practice of barbering by licensed individuals outside of barbershops to attend to the needs of sick and disabled individuals, as specified. Provides for the licensing and regulation of barber schools. Requires specified bonds for private barber schools. Provides for certification requirements as a Board-approved school of electrology and as a Board-approved school of laser, light source, or pulsed-light treatments. Directs the Board to conduct examinations for certificates of licensure under this Chapter, and to adopt sanitary rules applicable to licensees under this Chapter, as specified. Details license renewal requirements and procedures for expired licenses and licenses with inactive status. Authorizes the Board to take disciplinary actions, including a civil penalty of up to $500, against licensees for violations of the Chapter or rules adopted by the Board. Provides for the Board or the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), or any county or district health director, to apply to superior court to enjoin illegal practices under the Chapter or the Board's rules. Specifies exemptions from the Chapter's requirements. Provides two schedules of maximum fees that the Board may charge to pay the costs of the administration of this Article, one related to barbering, and the other related to electrolysis and laser, light source, and pulsed-light treatment.

Provides for the initial appointments to the Board, with (1) four barbers serving on the State Board of Barber Examiners as of December 31, 2019, until their terms expire; (2) one electrologist designated by the Governor serving on the State Board of Electrolysis Examiners as of December 31, 2019, for a three-year term; (3) one physician appointed by the Governor for a two-year term; and (4) one public member appointed by the Governor for a one-year term. Effective when the act becomes law. 

Directs the Board to review the licensing fee limitations and licenses established in Section 2 of this Act, and the fees adopted by the State Board of Barber Examiners and the State Board of Electrolysis Examiners, and determine whether the fee limitations and fees should be reduced, and whether certain licenses should be consolidated or eliminated, and to report its findings and recommendations to the Joint Legislative Administrative Procedure Oversight Committee by March 1, 2020.

Licenses and registrations issued by the State Board of Electrolysis Examiners and the State Board of Barber Examiners, prior to the effective date of this act, remain in full force.

Vests and transfers all of the property and assets owned by the State Board of Electrolysis Examiners and the State Board of Barber Examiners in the newly established Board of Barber and Electrolysis Examiners.

Requires the Department of the State Treasurer to hold funds received in the name of the Board separate from funds received in the name of the Board of Electrolysis Examiners or the Board of Barber Examiners prior to the effective date of the act. 

Rules adopted by the Board of Barber Examiners and the Board of Electrolysis Examiners remain in effect as provided in GS 150B-21.7.

Effective January 1, 2020, and applies to applications for licensure, examination, and renewal submitted on or after that date. 

Part III.

Changes the title of GS 150B-21.5 of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) to Circumstances when notice and rule-making hearing not required; circumstances when submission to the Commission not required. Amends subsection (a) to provide that an agency is not required to publish a notice of text in the North Carolina Register, hold a public hearing, or submit the amended rule to the Rules Review Commission (Commission) for review (previously, did not except submission of the amended rule to the Commission for review) when the agency proposes to amend a rule to do one of the specified purposes in subsection (a). Provides changes to a few of the specified purposes for which notice, a public hearing, and submission to the Commission for review are not required, which include (1) when the rule is amended to change information readily available to the public, such as an address, telephone number, or a web site (previously, did not include a web site) and (2) when the rule is amended to correct a typographical error (previously, correct a typographical error in the North Carolina Administrative Code). Further, moves the sixth purpose excepted in subsection (a) to new subsection (a1) to provide that an agency is not required to publish a notice of text in the Register or hold a public hearing when it proposes to change the rule in response to a request or an objection by the Commission, unless the Commission determines that the change is substantial (note, not excepted from rule submission to the Commission in this circumstance). Creates new subsection (e) to require any agency that adopts or amends a rule under subsection (a) or (c) of GS 150B-21.5 to notify the Codifier of Rules of its actions. Directs the Codifier of Rules to make the appropriate changes to the North Carolina Administrative Code when notified of such agency action.

Changes the title of GS 150B-21.20 of the APA to Codifier’s authority to revise rules. Amends Codifier of Rules authority to allow the Codifier, after consulting with the agency that adopted the rule, to revise a rule (previously, revise the form of a rule submitted for inclusion in the North Carolina Administrative Code) to do one or more of the specified objectives. Adds four objectives for which the Codifier may revise a rule: (1) to substitute one name for another when an organization or position is renamed; (2) to correct a citation in the rule to another rule or law when the citation has become inaccurate because of the repeal or renumbering of the cited rule or law; (3) to change information that is readily available to the public, such as an address, a telephone number, or a web site; or (4) to correct a typographical error.

Divides existing GS 150B-22 (Settlement; contested case) into two subsections. Additionally, clarifies that a party or person aggrieved cannot be required to petition an agency for rule making or to seek or obtain a declaratory ruling before commencing a contested case under GS 150B-23 (provisions for commencement of a contested case). Makes conforming change to GS 150B-43 (Right to judicial review).

Makes the following changes to the Administrative Procedure Act concerning the periodic review and expiration of existing rules. Eliminates the distinction between rules that are necessary with substantive public interest or necessary without substantive public interest under the provisions of GS 150B-21.3A. Eliminates those defined terms in subsection (a), and instead defines necessary rule to mean any rule other than an unnecessary rule. Makes conforming changes to the definition of public comment to include written comments objecting to an agency's determination of the rule as necessary or unnecessary. Makes conforming changes throughout GS 150B-21.3A to remove any language distinguishing necessary rules with or without substantive public interest. Amends subsection (c) of GS 150B-21.3A, which sets out the review process an agency must conduct of its existing rules at least once every 10 years. Step 1 now requires the agency to evaluate all of its existing rules and submit a report to the Rules Review Commission that includes the agency’s initial determination of whether an existing rule is necessary or unnecessary, all public comments the agency received during the comment period to the agency’s initial determination, and the agency’s response to the public comment. Step 2 of the rule review process requires the Rule Review Commission (Commission) to review the agency reports that are required in Step 1. In its review, the Commission must determine whether a public comment to a rule that the agency determined to be unnecessary in Step 1 has merit, and if the Commission determines that the public comment has merit, then the Commission must designate the rule as necessary. Currently, a public comment only has merit if it addresses the specific substance of a rule and relates to any of the standards for review of a rule by the Commission under GS 150B-21.9(a) (the four standards for review are whether the rule is within the agency’s authority; whether the rule is clear and unambiguous; whether the rule is reasonably necessary; and whether the rule was adopted in accordance with Part 2 of Article 2A of GS Chapter 150B, Adoption of Rules). This act removes the requirement that the public comment has to relate to any of the standards for review by the Commission under GS 150B-21.9(a) to have merit for purposes of Step 2 of the rule review process under GS 150B-21.3A(c)(2). Makes conforming changes. Makes organizational and technical changes to GS 150B-21.3A to combine subsections (e) and (e1), concerning exclusions from the statute's provisions. Makes conforming changes. Applies to agency rule reports submitted to the Office of Administrative Hearings pursuant to GS 150B-21.3A(c)(1), as amended, on or after January 1, 2020.

Part IV. 

Amends GS 90-625, increasing the number of members on the NC Board of Massage and Bodywork Therapy from seven to nine by adding two members who are persons licensed to operate a massage and bodywork therapy establishment under Article 36, appointed by the General Assembly upon recommendation of one member each by the Speaker and the President Pro Tempore. Provides for the initial appointments of the two new members to be made on or before October 1, 2019, with terms beginning on that date. Provides for the term of the initial member appointed and recommended by the Speaker to end on June 30, 2020, and the term for the initial member appointed and recommended by the President Pro Tempore to end on June 30, 2021. Effective July 1, 2019.