Senate Bill No. 610
(By Senators Bowman, Bailey, Ball and Scott)
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[Introduced February 19, 1998; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
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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 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:
ARTICLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO ALL STATE BOARDS OF
EXAMINATION OR REGISTRATION REFERRED TO IN
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.
(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.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.