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Just before it was scheduled to come to a vote before its policy-making body, The American Bar Association removed from its agenda a series of resolutions calling for the sealing of certain state criminal records. Groups relying on these records to conduct background checks provided strong opposition to the proposal, which was based on a Wisconsin bill.
ABA withdraws proposal to seal criminal records
Plans would limit access
A Cole County Missouri judge has rejected the state's controversial new midwife law, calling it unconstitutional. State law requires a bill to have a single subject, clearly expressed in its title. A bill's purpose may not be changed as it passes through the legislature. The judge determined that the insertion of an obscurely worded section permitting the practice of midwifery into a bill called "relating to health insurance" violated these requirements. Read more.
Governor Eliot Spitzer has signed a bill requiring that office-based surgery be performed in an accredited setting. The number of in-office surgeries and their complexity has doubled over the past decade, but without the regulation imposed on other surgical settings. Performing operations in an unaccredited office will be considered professional misconduct that can result in practitioner loss of license. Read more.
Labor and Employment Secretary Arturo Brion proposed to the Commission on Higher Education and the Professional Regulatory Commission that candidates who fail this summer's nursing examination and do not plan to retake it, should be issued practical nursing licenses. Brion says doing this will help former students "achieve their dreams of finding employment opportunities abroad." Read more.
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has not completed the mandated consolidation of its administrative functions according to a recent Financial Audit and Compliance Examination report. The department should also perform and document its enforcement activities in a more timely manner. The department disagreed with the first finding, saying that it is moving at a "steady, efficient and responsible pace towards absolute consolidation of the entire agency." The department is also in the process of implementing changes to its enforcement policies and procedures that will address the report's concerns. Read the report synopsis.
In Regulation of Health Care, Long-Term Care, and Health Care Related Facilities Follow-up Review of 2004 Health Care Regulation, the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts (DAA) says that the Office of Regulatory Services (ORS) is in the process of implementing many of the recommendations DAA made in 2004. These include a uniform set of licensing requirements and developing a methodology for more consistent surveyor inspections, including maintaining documentation beyond that required for federal reporting. ORS is charged with regulating 22 different types of health care providers. It conducted over 11,000 inspections during 2006.
The independent Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) will be based in Edinburgh and operating by the end of 2008. Professional bodies will continue to deal with professional discipline and complaints about the conduct of legal practitioners, while the commission will receive complaints about inadequate service and negligence cases below the value of £20,000. Read the Scottish Executive News press release.
The June 2007 issue of Physical Therapy Reviews is a special issue tied to World Physical Therapy 2007, the Congress of the World Confederation for Physical Therapy. The issue contains papers on physiotherapy education in Australia, Canada, Greece, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan, Sweden, the UK and USA, and features a guest editorial on World Physical Therapist Education, which may be accessed without charge. Article abstracts may also be accessed
The US National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has released the 2006 Insurance Department Resources Report (IDRR). This 20th edition can be ordered in hard copy from the NAIC Store or as an electronic .pdf version from NAIC InsPubs.
California permits graduates of unaccredited, state-approved degree programs to sit for many of its professional licensing examinations. Unaccredited for-profit schools were under the oversight of the California Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education until July 1 when the bureau was closed. A temporary measure for program approval is in place and the legislature continues to find a solution to this regulatory gap. Read California's Regulatory Meltdown.
The Supreme Court of Florida reviewed a report recommending that an attorney accused of mishandling a personal injury suit be diverted to the Florida Bar's Practice and Professionalism Enhancement Program and that he be directed to attend the Bar's Ethics School at his expense. But, the court said, diversion is not appropriate as the attorney's misconduct was more than "minor." Instead a public reprimand by the Board of Governors of The Florida Bar and participation in the Bar's practice and professionalism program on the terms recommended by the referee are found to be the appropriate discipline. Supreme Court of Florida, Case Number SC05-1425, Florida Bar v. Cocalis.
