                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

PETITIONS FOR REGULATION; REVIEW BY BOARD; REPORT (§ 54.1-310.1)

A. Any professional or occupational group or organization, any person, or any
other interested party that proposes the regulation of any unregulated
professional or occupational group shall submit a request to the Board no later
than December 1 of any year for analysis and evaluation during the following
year.

B. The Board shall review the request only when filed with a statement of
support for the proposed regulation signed by at least 10 members of the
professional or occupational group for which regulation is being sought or at
least 10 individuals who are not members of the professional or occupational
group.

C. The request shall include, at a minimum, the following information:

   1. A description of the group proposed for regulation, including a list of
   associations, organizations, and other groups representing the practitioners
   in the Commonwealth, and an estimate of the number of practitioners in each
   group;

   2. A definition of the problems to be solved by regulation and the reasons why
   regulation is necessary;

   3. The reasons why registration, certification, licensure, or other type of
   regulation is being proposed and why that regulatory alternative was chosen;

   4. The benefit to the public that would result from the proposed regulation;

   5. The cost of the proposed regulation; and

   6. A description of any anticipated disqualifications on an applicant for
   certification, licensure, or renewal and how such disqualifications serve
   public safety or commercial or consumer protection interests.

D. Upon receipt of a request submitted in accordance with the requirements of
subsection C, the Board shall conduct an analysis and evaluation of any proposed
regulation based on the criteria enumerated in &#xA7; 54.1-311.

E. The Board may decline to conduct a review only if it:

   1. Previously conducted an analysis and evaluation of the proposed regulation
   of the same professional or occupational group;

   2. Issued a report not more than three years prior to the submission of the
   current proposal to regulate the same professional or occupational group; and

   3. Finds that no new information has been submitted in the request that would
   cause the Board to alter or modify the recommendations made in its earlier
   report on the proposed regulation of the professional or occupational group.

F. The Board shall submit a report with its findings on whether the public
interest requires the requested professional or occupational group be regulated
to the House Committee on General Laws, the Senate Committee on General Laws and
Technology, and the Joint Commission on Administrative Rules no later than
November 1 of the year following the request submission.

HISTORY: 2016, c. 467.