The House of Delegates Government Organization Committee, March 7, approved studies of the various licensing boards and professionals be undertaken, and to report its findings to the 2019 Legislature.
Members of the Committee voting to approve the studies are: Delegates Gary Howell (R-Mineral), Danny Hamrick (R-Harrison), Chanda Adkins (R-Raleigh), Vernon Criss (R-Wood), Diana Graves (R-Kanawha),D. Roland Jennings (ZR-Preston), Patrick Martin (R-Lewis), Zack Maynard (R-Lincoln), Jeffrey Pack (R-Raleigh), Tony Paynter (R-Wyoming), Rodney Pyles (D-Monongalia), Terry Funk Sypolt (R-Preston), Guy Ward (R-Marion) and John Williams (D-Monongalia).
Below are the three study resolutions.
House Concurrent Resolution 106: Whereas, Licensing boards and authorities exist to protect the public good and to ensure professional standards among those who perform occupations and professional; 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 licensure, certification and registration of occupational and professional regulation, and report its findings to the 2019 Legislature.
House Concurrent Resolution 107: Whereas, Boards and commissions regulating various professions and occupations have been encouraged to reduce costs and 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 boards have joined together to combine office and staffing services and other boards have been proposed to merge further promoting efficiencies, 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 the occupational and professional regulatory boards to facilitate the consolidation of staffing functions to promote public access to regulatory services to further ensure efficiencies and economies of scale in occupational and professional regulation.
Therefore, The Joint Committee on Government and Finance is to conduct a study of 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 whether the rule has become too burdensome and obsolete; and
Whereas, Rule 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.
