Bill Summaries: H590 (2019-2020 Session)

Tracking:
  • Summary date: Jul 22 2019 - View summary

    AN ACT TO AMEND VARIOUS ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE LAWS. SL 2019-140. Enacted July 19, 2019. Effective July 19, 2019, except as otherwise provided.


  • Summary date: May 2 2019 - View summary

    House committee substitute to the 2nd edition makes the following changes.

    Deletes Part IV of the act which created GS Chapter 86B, Barbers and Electrolysis Act. 


  • Summary date: Apr 15 2019 - View summary

    House committee substitute to the 1st edition makes the following changes.

    Makes organizational changes to the act to place the previous provisions into Parts I through III.

    Further amends GS 150B-21.5(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 when the agency proposes to amend a rule to change information that is readily available to the public such as an email address (previously only listed an address, phone number, or website as examples).

    Adds new Part IV. 

    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. 


  • Summary date: Apr 3 2019 - View summary

    Section 1.1 and 1.2

    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 that is 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 the 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 since the rule was adopted because of the repeal or renumbering of the cited rule or law; (3) to change information readily available to the public, such as an address, a telephone number, or a web site; or (4) to correct a typographical error.

    Section 2.1 and 2.2

    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).

    Section 3

    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 throughout GS 150B-21.3A to remove any language distinguishing necessary rules with or without substantive public interest. 

    Additionally, amends the definition for public comment to include written comments objecting to an agency's determination of the rule as necessary or unnecessary received by an agency from any member of the public. 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 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. 

    Section 3 applies to agency rule reports submitted to the Officer of Administrative Hearings pursuant to GS 150B-21.3A(c)(1) (Step 1 of the rule review process) on or after October 1, 2019.