H. B. 4021
(By Delegates Douglas, Collins,
Thompson, Given, Tucker, Azinger
and Capito)
[Introduced January 16, 1998; referred to the
Committee
on Government Organization.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section twelve, article one, chapter
thirty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, relating to public access to licensing
boards.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the West Virginia:
That section 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:
§30-1-12. 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.
(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.
Note: The purpose of this bill is to require licensing boards to
list their addresses and telephone numbers in the state government
listing of the Charleston area telephone directory.