Senate Bill sb2144c2

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    Florida Senate - 2003                    CS for CS for SB 2144

    By the Committees on Governmental Oversight and Productivity;
    Health, Aging, and Long-Term Care; and Senator Clary




    302-2504-03

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act creating the Board of Dentistry

  3         Empowerment Act; creating s. 466.055, F.S.;

  4         providing for the appointment of an executive

  5         director; providing for duties, and board

  6         oversight; requiring director to oversee staff;

  7         requiring the department to contract for a

  8         dental intake officer and providing

  9         qualifications; requiring certain

10         responsibilities of the officer; requiring the

11         board to establish certain performance

12         parameters for departmental handling of

13         disciplinary cases, and consequences; requiring

14         testing services to report to the board if

15         requested; requiring a board spending plan and

16         its content; requiring board spending authority

17         over discretionary budget items; requiring a

18         department report of certain information;

19         providing for a board response; providing an

20         effective date.

21  

22  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

23  

24         Section 1.  Section 466.055, Florida Statutes, is

25  created to read:

26         466.055  Board of Dentistry Empowerment Act.--

27         (1)  If requested by the Board of Dentistry, it shall

28  direct the department whom to appoint as executive director

29  pursuant to the rules of the state personnel system. The

30  committee conducting interviews of candidates for executive

31  director shall consist of the board chairman or his designee

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    Florida Senate - 2003                    CS for CS for SB 2144
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 1  and the secretary or his or her designee. A list of final

 2  candidates shall be submitted to the board, which shall

 3  approve the candidate to be hired. The approval process shall

 4  include the right of the board to interview the list of

 5  submitted candidates. The board may reject all the candidates

 6  on the submitted list and request that a new list be submitted

 7  by the interview committee. The executive director shall

 8  perform those duties and responsibilities specific to the

 9  Board of Dentistry and shall exclusively serve the Board of

10  Dentistry. The board shall monitor the performance of the

11  executive director, based on established performance standards

12  and should the board determine, by a majority vote, that the

13  performance of the executive director is consistently below

14  the performance standards of the board and thus unacceptable,

15  the board shall promptly notify the department of its

16  findings, in writing, and the department shall take

17  appropriate action to replace the executive director, pursuant

18  to the state personnel rules.

19         (2)  The executive director shall be responsible for

20  overseeing the hiring of all other staff members who work

21  directly for the executive director and who perform services

22  for the board.

23         (3)  The department shall contract for a dental intake

24  officer when requested by the Board of Dentistry in accordance

25  with the state personnel system and qualifications established

26  for such position by the Board of Dentistry. The

27  qualifications for the position shall include a requirement

28  that the candidate be a licensed Florida dentist in good

29  standing.

30         (4)  The dental intake officer shall be responsible for

31  determining the legal sufficiency of all dental complaints

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    Florida Senate - 2003                    CS for CS for SB 2144
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 1  received by the department within 5 working days after the

 2  complaint is filed; advising the board regarding dental health

 3  regulation issues; and advising field investigators on dental

 4  issues related to the complaints to assure that complaints are

 5  properly investigated in a timely and efficacious manner.

 6         (5)  The Board of Dentistry, in consultation with the

 7  department, shall establish reasonable and comprehensive

 8  performance parameters for the prosecution of disciplinary

 9  cases by the department. Such parameters shall reflect the

10  quality and quantity of services to be provided to the board,

11  including, but not limited to, the proportion of cases that

12  are successfully prosecuted through final hearing and appeal

13  if such cases involve irremediable harm or injury or the

14  immediate threat of irremediable harm or injury to the

15  patient. The board shall conduct an annual evaluation to

16  determine if the department has met the established

17  performance parameters. A finding by the board that the

18  department has failed to meet established parameters shall

19  enable the board, by a majority vote, to instruct the

20  department to retain sufficient outside contractual

21  prosecutorial services pursuant to s. 287.057(3), to fulfill

22  the immediate and forseeable prosecutorial needs of the board.

23  Contract negotiations and vendor selection shall be conducted

24  in consultation with the chairman of the board or his

25  designee. Each contract for prosecutorial services shall

26  include, at a minimum, the performance parameters developed by

27  the board for its assessment of the department.

28         (6)  If requested, a representative of testing services

29  of the Department of Health shall appear before the board, or

30  a committee of the board, following the completion of each

31  examination cycle to discuss examination issues. If the board

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    Florida Senate - 2003                    CS for CS for SB 2144
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 1  identifies issues to be addressed, testing services shall

 2  report to the board, as requested at the next board meeting,

 3  on its progress in addressing the issues identified by the

 4  board.

 5         (7)(a)  In conjunction with each fiscal year budgetary

 6  cycle, the department, in consultation with the board, shall

 7  develop a Board of Dentistry spending plan encompassing

 8  anticipated revenue of all types along with all anticipated

 9  operating expenses of the board and associated support

10  services of the department, which shall include all direct and

11  allocated expenses necessary to enable the board to fulfill

12  its responsibilities. All expenditure detail as provided

13  herein shall reflect the methodology and calculations of the

14  department in allocating common expenses among all regulatory

15  boards.

16         (b)  The Board of Dentistry shall have spending

17  authority over discretionary budgetary items, as determined by

18  the department and the board jointly. Discretionary budgetary

19  items shall include the selection of board meeting venue,

20  hotel facilities, and accommodations; travel of board members

21  and necessary staff to all meetings of the board; attendance

22  by board members at meetings and conferences deemed to be

23  important by the board in fulfilling its responsibilities,

24  monitoring performance, and confirming the accuracy of

25  information provided to the board or others which relates to

26  the duties and responsibilities of the board; and an

27  operational contingency. Operational contingency is that

28  portion of cash on hand that exceeds that required for the

29  5-year spending plan as described in s. 456.005. The

30  operational contingency may be used for a special project by

31  the board in fulfilling its responsibilities if a deficit does

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    Florida Senate - 2003                    CS for CS for SB 2144
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 1  not or would not exist for the profession. In exercising its

 2  spending authority over discretionary budget items, the board

 3  must adhere to all applicable state laws and directives;

 4  assure that all meeting locations are accessible to the public

 5  and licensees; assure that board meetings are conducted in an

 6  effective and efficient manner for the public and licensees;

 7  assure that the minimal number of board members or staff

 8  attend any meeting or conference; and assure the maximum use

 9  of technology. When requested by the board, the department

10  shall provide timely procurement assistance to facilitate all

11  discretionary expenditures of the board.

12         (8)(a)  The department shall submit a report to the

13  Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the

14  House of Representatives by November 1 of each year on the

15  effectiveness and efficiency of this section, including:

16         1.  The revenues, expenditures, and cash balances for

17  the prior year, and a review of the adequacy of existing

18  revenues;

19         2.  The nature and extent of all services provided to

20  the board by the department;

21         3.  The total cost allocated by the department for each

22  service provided by the department to the board and the amount

23  and percent by which each cost is appropriate to dentistry's

24  pro-rata share of the total cost of such services provided by

25  the department to all affected boards, councils, and

26  professions;

27         4.  The number of licensure examinations taken, the

28  fees collected for licensure examination, and the time from

29  which a candidate for licensure completed the required

30  examination to the time in which the candidate received the

31  results;

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    Florida Senate - 2003                    CS for CS for SB 2144
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 1         5.  The number of licenses issued, revoked, or

 2  suspended;

 3         6.  The number of disciplinary complaints received,

 4  determined to be legally sufficient, investigated, referred to

 5  the board's probable cause panel, prosecuted, subject to final

 6  board action, and appealed; the number, maximum, and average

 7  duration of licenses suspended; the number of licenses

 8  revoked; the number of cases spanning more than 180,270, and

 9  365 days from receipt of complaints to submission to the

10  board's probable cause panel; the proportion of cases which

11  were eligible for and the number of cases actually resolved by

12  citation; the proportion of cases where probable cause was

13  found; the number of cases were probable cause was found that

14  were not prosecuted or that did not result in stipulated

15  agreements; the number of cases involving stipulated

16  agreements; the number of cases involving stipulated

17  agreements which were changed by the board and the number of

18  cases involving stipulated agreements that were rejected

19  without modification by the board; the number of cases taking

20  in excess of 1 year from the date of receipt of a complaint to

21  final board action; the number of cases involving formal

22  hearings; the status of all cases appealed; the number of

23  cases where licensure suspension or revocation was stayed

24  pending appeal; the number of emergency suspension orders

25  issued; the average and maximum range of costs of complaint

26  investigations and prosecutions; and the amount of fines and

27  expenses collected by type of cases prosecuted;

28         7.  The status of the development and implementation of

29  rules providing for disciplinary guidelines pursuant to s.

30  456.079; and

31  

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    Florida Senate - 2003                    CS for CS for SB 2144
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 1         8.  Such recommendations for administrative and

 2  statutory changes necessary to facilitate efficient and

 3  cost-effective operation of the board and the department.

 4         (b)  The department shall include in the report any

 5  statement, comment, suggestion, recommendation, or objection

 6  made by the board in response to the report.

 7         Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2003.

 8  

 9          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
10                            CS/SB 2144

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12  Removes a provision requiring approval by the board and the
    secretary prior to execution of a contract for prosecutorial
13  services by the department.

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