The WV House of Delegates Government Organization Committee approved three study resolutions just two days before the end of the 2018 Legislature that call for review of professional licensing boards, including the Board of Pharmacy. “There was no advance notice of these resolutions, and questions by members regarding reasons for the resolutions were limited,” said Richard Stevens, WVPA Executive Director.
These resolutions will be discussed at interim meetings of the Legislature during the coming year. Below are the three study resolutions.
House Concurrent Resolution 106: Whereas, licensing boards exist to protect the public good to ensure professional standards among those who perform occupations and professions; and
Whereas, the legislature is committed to protecting the public while balancing economic opportunity by studying the various forms of licensure, certification and registration of occupations and professionals to ensure the protection of the public is the least burdensome and as minimally restrictive as possible.
Therefore, the Joint Committee on Government and Finance is to conduct a study of licensing, certification and registration of occupational and professional regulations. A report is to made to the 2019 Legislature.
House Concurrent Resolution 107: Whereas, boards regulating various professions and occupations have been encouraged to reduce costs; and
Whereas, boards have been granted specific permissive authority to share staff and office overhead, to promote public safety, to provide accessibility of the public and to reduce costs; and
Whereas, small licensing board have joined together to combine office and staffing services and other boards have been proposed to merge to further promote efficiency, increasing public access, and improving public safety through the continuity of services; and
Whereas, other states have experience in centralized professional and occupational offices, from which this state could identify best practices in shared office services for occupational and professional regulation; and
Whereas, West Virginia should consider identifying a single building in Charleston to house occupational and professional regulatory boards so as to facilitate the consolidation of staffing functions, to promote public access to regulatory services, and to further ensure efficiency and economies of scale in occupational professional regulation.
Therefore, the Joint Committee on Government and Finance is to study the feasibility of a single building to house all regulatory boards, and report its findings to the 2019 Legislature.
House Concurrent Resolution 109: Whereas, state agencies are authorized to promulgate legislative rules due to their inherent expertise; and
Whereas, the Legislature is committed to protecting the public welfare by periodically reviewing these rules to assess their continued effectiveness and relevance and
Whereas, rules can often be created which promote a process-driven system that favors bureaucracy over efficiency rather than an outcome-driven system that values results and overall benefit to all.
Therefore, the Joint Committee on Government and Finance is to study legislative rules being outcome driven rather than process driven and report its findings to the 2019 Legislature.
