Minnesota Session Laws - 2001, Regular Session

                            CHAPTER 138-S.F.No. 1430 
                  An act relating to health; eliminating commissioner's 
                  reporting requirement for alcohol and drug counselors; 
                  providing for exchange of information for 
                  investigations of alcohol and drug counselors; 
                  modifying an exception relating to school counselors; 
                  amending Minnesota Statutes 2000, sections 148C.03, 
                  subdivision 1; 148C.099; 148C.11, subdivision 1. 
        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
           Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 148C.03, 
        subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
           Subdivision 1.  [GENERAL.] The commissioner shall, after 
        consultation with the advisory council or a committee 
        established by rule: 
           (a) adopt and enforce rules for licensure of alcohol and 
        drug counselors, including establishing standards and methods of 
        determining whether applicants and licensees are qualified under 
        section 148C.04.  The rules must provide for examinations and 
        establish standards for the regulation of professional conduct.  
        The rules must be designed to protect the public; 
           (b) develop and, at least twice a year, administer an 
        examination to assess applicants' knowledge and skills.  The 
        commissioner may contract for the administration of an 
        examination with an entity designated by the commissioner.  The 
        examinations must be psychometrically valid and reliable; must 
        be written and oral, with the oral examination based on a 
        written case presentation; must minimize cultural bias; and must 
        be balanced in various theories relative to the practice of 
        alcohol and drug counseling; 
           (c) issue licenses to individuals qualified under sections 
        148C.01 to 148C.11; 
           (d) issue copies of the rules for licensure to all 
        applicants; 
           (e) adopt rules to establish and implement procedures, 
        including a standard disciplinary process and rules of 
        professional conduct; 
           (f) carry out disciplinary actions against licensees; 
           (g) establish, with the advice and recommendations of the 
        advisory council, written internal operating procedures for 
        receiving and investigating complaints and for taking 
        disciplinary actions as appropriate; 
           (h) educate the public about the existence and content of 
        the rules for alcohol and drug counselor licensing to enable 
        consumers to file complaints against licensees who may have 
        violated the rules; 
           (i) evaluate the rules in order to refine and improve the 
        methods used to enforce the commissioner's standards; and 
           (j) set, collect, and adjust license fees for alcohol and 
        drug counselors so that the total fees collected will as closely 
        as possible equal anticipated expenditures during the biennium, 
        as provided in section 16A.1285; fees for initial and renewal 
        application and examinations; late fees for counselors who 
        submit license renewal applications after the renewal deadline; 
        and a surcharge fee.  The surcharge fee must include an amount 
        necessary to recover, over a five-year period, the 
        commissioner's direct expenditures for the adoption of the rules 
        providing for the licensure of alcohol and drug counselors.  All 
        fees received shall be deposited in the state treasury and 
        credited to the special revenue fund; and. 
           (k) prepare reports on activities related to the licensure 
        of alcohol and drug counselors according to this subdivision by 
        October 1 of each even-numbered year.  Copies of the reports 
        shall be delivered to the legislature in accordance with section 
        3.195 and to the governor.  The reports shall contain the 
        following information on the commissioner's activities relating 
        to the licensure of alcohol and drug counselors, for the 
        two-year period ending the previous June 30: 
           (1) a general statement of the activities; 
           (2) the number of staff hours spent on the activities; 
           (3) the receipts and disbursements of funds; 
           (4) the names of advisory council members and their 
        addresses, occupations, and dates of appointment and 
        reappointment; 
           (5) the names and job classifications of employees; 
           (6) a brief summary of rules proposed or adopted during the 
        reporting period with appropriate citations to the State 
        Register and published rules; 
           (7) the number of persons having each type of license 
        issued by the commissioner as of June 30 in the year of the 
        report; 
           (8) the locations and dates of the administration of 
        examinations by the commissioner; 
           (9) the number of persons examined by the commissioner with 
        the persons subdivided into groups showing age categories, sex, 
        and states of residency; 
           (10) the number of persons licensed by the commissioner 
        after taking the examinations referred to in clause (8) with the 
        persons subdivided by age categories, sex, and states of 
        residency; 
           (11) the number of persons not licensed by the commissioner 
        after taking the examinations referred to in clause (8) with the 
        persons subdivided by age categories, sex, and states of 
        residency; 
           (12) the number of persons not taking the examinations 
        referred to in clause (8) who were licensed by the commissioner 
        or who were denied licensing, the reasons for the licensing or 
        denial, and the persons subdivided by age categories, sex, and 
        states of residency; 
           (13) the number of persons previously licensed by the 
        commissioner whose licenses were revoked, suspended, or 
        otherwise altered in status with brief statements of the reasons 
        for the revocation, suspension, or alteration; 
           (14) the number of written and oral complaints and other 
        communications received by the commissioner which allege or 
        imply a violation of a statute or rule which the commissioner is 
        empowered to enforce; 
           (15) a summary, by specific category, of the substance of 
        the complaints and communications referred to in clause (14) 
        and, for each specific category, the responses or dispositions; 
        and 
           (16) any other objective information which the commissioner 
        believes will be useful in reviewing the commissioner's 
        activities. 
           Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 148C.099, is 
        amended to read: 
           148C.099 [INVESTIGATIONS; PROFESSIONAL COOPERATION; 
        EXCHANGING INFORMATION.] 
           Subdivision 1.  [COOPERATION.] An alcohol and drug 
        counselor who is the subject of an investigation, or who is 
        questioned in connection with an investigation, by or on behalf 
        of the commissioner, shall cooperate fully with the 
        investigation.  Cooperation includes responding fully to any 
        question raised by or on behalf of the commissioner relating to 
        the subject of the investigation whether tape recorded or not.  
        Challenges to requests of the commissioner may be brought before 
        the appropriate agency or court. 
           Subd. 2.  [EXCHANGING INFORMATION.] (a) The commissioner 
        shall establish internal operating procedures for: 
           (1) exchanging information with state boards; agencies, 
        including the office of ombudsman for mental health and mental 
        retardation; health-related and law enforcement facilities; 
        departments responsible for licensing health-related 
        occupations, facilities, and programs; and law enforcement 
        personnel in this and other states; and 
           (2) coordinating investigations involving matters within 
        the jurisdiction of more than one regulatory agency. 
           (b) The procedures for exchanging information must provide 
        for forwarding to an entity described in paragraph (a), clause 
        (1), any information or evidence, including the results of 
        investigations, that is relevant to matters within the 
        regulatory jurisdiction of that entity.  The data have the same 
        classification in the possession of the agency receiving the 
        data as they have in the possession of the agency providing the 
        data. 
           (c) The commissioner shall establish procedures for 
        exchanging information with other states regarding disciplinary 
        action against alcohol and drug counselors. 
           (d) The commissioner shall forward to another governmental 
        agency any complaints received by the commissioner that do not 
        relate to the commissioner's jurisdiction but that relate to 
        matters within the jurisdiction of the other governmental 
        agency.  The agency to which a complaint is forwarded shall 
        advise the commissioner of the disposition of the complaint.  A 
        complaint or other information received by another governmental 
        agency relating to a statute or rule that the commissioner is 
        empowered to enforce must be forwarded to the commissioner to be 
        processed according to this section. 
           (e) The commissioner shall furnish to a person who made a 
        complaint a description of the actions of the commissioner 
        relating to the complaint. 
           Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 148C.11, 
        subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
           Subdivision 1.  [OTHER PROFESSIONALS.] Nothing in sections 
        148C.01 to 148C.10 shall prevent members of other professions or 
        occupations from performing functions for which they are 
        qualified or licensed.  This exception includes, but is not 
        limited to, licensed physicians, registered nurses, licensed 
        practical nurses, licensed psychological practitioners, members 
        of the clergy, American Indian medicine men and women, licensed 
        attorneys, probation officers, licensed marriage and family 
        therapists, licensed social workers, licensed professional 
        counselors, licensed school counselors employed by a school 
        district while acting within the scope of employment as school 
        counselors, and registered occupational therapists or 
        occupational therapy assistants.  These persons must not, 
        however, use a title incorporating the words "alcohol and drug 
        counselor" or "licensed alcohol and drug counselor" or otherwise 
        hold themselves out to the public by any title or description 
        stating or implying that they are engaged in the practice of 
        alcohol and drug counseling, or that they are licensed to engage 
        in the practice of alcohol and drug counseling.  Persons engaged 
        in the practice of alcohol and drug counseling are not exempt 
        from the commissioner's jurisdiction solely by the use of one of 
        the above titles. 
           Presented to the governor May 17, 2001 
           Signed by the governor May 21, 2001, 10:57 a.m.