Florida Senate - 2016                                     SB 560
       
       
        
       By Senator Braynon
       
       
       
       
       
       36-00656-16                                            2016560__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to licensing requirements for physical
    3         therapist assistants; amending s. 486.102, F.S.;
    4         removing the enumeration of specific accrediting
    5         agencies for physical therapist assistant programs;
    6         providing an effective date.
    7          
    8  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
    9  
   10         Section 1. Section 486.102, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   11  read:
   12         486.102 Physical therapist assistant; licensing
   13  requirements.—To be eligible for licensing by the board as a
   14  physical therapist assistant, an applicant must:
   15         (1) Be at least 18 years old;
   16         (2) Be of good moral character; and
   17         (3)(a) Have been graduated from a school that offers giving
   18  a course of not less than 2 years for physical therapist
   19  assistants, which has been approved for the educational
   20  preparation of physical therapist assistants by the appropriate
   21  accrediting agency recognized by the Commission on Recognition
   22  of Postsecondary Accreditation or the United States Department
   23  of Education, which includes, but is not limited to, any
   24  regional or national institutional accrediting agencies
   25  recognized by the United States Department of Education or the
   26  Commission on Accreditation for Physical Therapy Education
   27  (CAPTE), at the time of the applicant’s her or his graduation,
   28  and must have passed to the satisfaction of the board an
   29  examination to determine her or his fitness to for practice as a
   30  physical therapist assistant as hereinafter provided in this
   31  chapter;
   32         (b) Have been graduated from a school that offers giving a
   33  course for physical therapist assistants in a foreign country,
   34  and must have educational credentials deemed equivalent to those
   35  required for the educational preparation of physical therapist
   36  assistants in this country, as recognized by the appropriate
   37  agency as identified by the board, and must have passed to the
   38  satisfaction of the board an examination to determine the
   39  applicant’s her or his fitness to for practice as a physical
   40  therapist assistant as hereinafter provided in this chapter; or
   41         (c) Be entitled to licensure without examination as
   42  provided in s. 486.107.
   43         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2016.