Fall 2004 Newsletter (Volume 21, No. 3) President's Column Bob Stonehill, In Memoriam Advertisements By Deanna Williams (More) In Kansas City, you will receive CLEAR Exam Review my full report on CLEAR’s Agency Consolidation Is in The leading North American activities during this past year. the Air (Again) journal on testing issues for the Right now, I’d like to use this As state governments face professional and occupational forum to highlight a few exciting difficult economic conditions regulatory community things that happened this year. and limited budgets, cuts must (More) be made somewhere. Several states have recently looked to 2004 Conference Update agency consolidation/ Join us in the City of Fountains restructuring as an economical for CLEAR's 2004 conference - and efficient solution. 21st Century Regulation: "Show (More) Me" What Works. You can still CLEAR is a dynamic register on-site for the International News forum for improving the conference, Board Member Current World Trade quality and Training, Regulatory Leadership Organization (WTO) understanding of Development Training, and pre- negotiations will benefit legal regulation in order to conference testing workshops. professionals more than any enhance public (More) other profession, according to protection the Deputy Director-General of Board Meeting in Lexington, the WTO, Rufus Yerxa. July 2004 (More) Pam Brinegar, Executive (Photos) Director Stephanie Thompson, Editor (More) CLEAR Net News (More) Calendar of Events

Guffey, Zukowski Announce Retirement (More)

CLEAR News - Fall 2004

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE TO THE MEMBERSHIP By Deanna Williams September 2004

In Kansas City, you will receive my full report on CLEAR’s activities during this past year. Right now, I’d like to use this forum to highlight a few exciting things that happened this year.

First, in keeping with my promise to engage CLEAR in strategic thinking, both the Advisory Committee on Strategic Initiatives and the Board of Directors have done a lot of work toward developing a new plan for CLEAR. In September, the Board will approve an online membership survey that will provide you with an opportunity to comment on the direction you'd like to see your organization take. I'd like to encourage you to help the Board with its planning process by taking a few minutes to complete the survey.

The second exciting “adventure” for the Board this year took the form of a summer trip to CLEAR’s headquarters in Lexington, KY. It is the first time since May 1997 that the Board has met in Lexington to combine a face to face meeting with a visit to CLEAR’s head office. The meeting was very successful with most of the Board members attending and I know that our staff, who do such a wonderful job year round but only meet all of us twice a year, really appreciated the visit too. Our visit to Lexington was so successful that we hope future Boards will make the effort to meet in Lexington and visit our head office at a minimum of every second year!

I’d like to also thank the Board of Directors for making some difficult decisions. You should know that this Board is truly dedicated to CLEAR, with thoughtful, deliberate members. It is a privilege to work with a Board that understands duty of care and is willing to move strategically for the organization’s good, even if it means stepping outside of the box. You may find their recent decisions of interest, so here’s a synopsis of what happened.

Several issues prompted the Board of Directors to meet by teleconference on July 29, just two weeks after it had met in Lexington, Kentucky. First of all, as had occurred in 2002, there was only one nomination received for each available board position and for the office of president-elect. Complicating matters was that, for the first time in CLEAR’s history, the candidate for the office of president-elect was an associate member. The Board’s dilemma was whether to follow the precedent established in 2002 of suspending the election and accepting the slate of candidates, or to leave the organization without a president-elect.

During its teleconference, the Board made the following carefully considered decisions designed to save CLEAR the cost of printing and mailing ballots that would never be counted:

1. Took the position that there is not an apparent impediment in the current bylaws to allowing an associate member to serve as President.

2. Took the position that there is an impediment in the bylaws to more than one associate member serving on the board at any give time. The Board drafted and distributed for comment bylaws language that is intended to limit the number of associate members who may serve as an officer of CLEAR to one while also providing for one other board member to represent the associate member community.

3. Set aside the requirement that the members of the board of directors and the president- elect be elected at the annual meeting and, following the 2002 precedent, accepted the current slate of candidates into office by acclamation. As a result, I'm pleased to announce Linda Waters as CLEAR’s 2004-2005 President–Elect and David Montgomery and Deborah Worrad as re-elected Board Members.

4. Established a working group to conduct a thorough review of the bylaws and report back to the Board. Any proposed changes will be circulated to the membership for comment and you are certainly welcome to send staff any comments you'd like forwarded now to the working group while it is still deliberating.

In closing, please permit me to put in one final plug for CLEAR’s great annual conference in Kansas City. You're certainly welcome to register for the conference on site for everything except the NCIT programs, which are filled. I hope to see you there! CLEAR News - Fall 2004

September 30 - October 2, 2004 · Kansas City, Missouri

______There is still time ..... Join us in the City of Fountains for CLEAR's 2004 Conference - 21st Century Regulation: "Show Me" What Works ______

Please Note: After the close of business on Friday, September 24 it will be necessary to register on-site at the conference.

Highlights of the conference include: »Informative and innovative sessions in Policy and Administration, Credentialing and Exam Issues, Professional Discipline, and Roundtable discussions

»Pre-conference workshops

»National Certified Investigator/Inspector Training Basic and Specialized Programs

»Regulatory Leadership Development Training Program

»Board Member Training

»"Agency Enforcement Programs: Protecting the Public Interest" with Julianne D'Angelo Fellmeth, Center for Public Interest Law

»"Global Trends Impacting the Future of Professional Regluation" with Marjorie Peace Lenn, Executive Director, Center for Quality Assurance in International Education

»"Healing Humor" with Dave Caperton

Further information or view the flyer

We're looking forward to a great conference in Kansas City and hope to see you there!

»Please contact CLEAR staff with any questions at (859) 269-1802. CLEAR News - Fall 2004

Board Meeting at CLEAR Headquarters July 2004

Linda Waters, Budd Hetrick, and Bonnie Rhea Adams

Deborah Worrad, André Gariépy, Kristin Hellquist, and Jayne Bunn, some of the Board Members in attendance at the July Board meeting CLEAR News - Fall 2004

Net News

California Performance Review Report As covered in the "Consolidation in the Air" article in this newsletter, Government for the People for a Change is a four-volume performance review of California’s state government containing far-reaching recommendations. The full report is available online in four hefty volumes:

I. Prescription for Change (a summary of the recommendations)

II. Form Follows Function (a review of the proposed new structure which sets forth a framework within which all programs are aligned by function - in practice, this would place all disciplinary activities, including those for professional discipline, within the same area).

Also in the second volume is a section on Evaluating California's Boards and Commissions which proposes eliminating 118 boards and commissions, while retaining their functions.

Among those proposed for abolition are: Alarm Company Operator Disciplinary Review Committee Architects Board Landscape Architect Technical Committee Board of Barbering and Cosmetology Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors Contractors' State Licensing Board Court Reporters Board Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun Private Security Disciplinary Review Commission (North/South) Real Estate Advisory Commission Service Agency Advisory Committee Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Board Board of Geologists and Geophysicists Structural Pest Control Board Bureau of Naturopathic Medicine Advisory Committee Commission on Emergency Medical Services

III. Keeping the Books

IV. Issues and Recommendations A performance audit report on Montana's Professional Licensing activities was released in June 2004. The legislature had charged its Legislative Audit Division with looking at five aspects of professional and occupational licensing: board composition, department administrative services, licensing fees, public protection, and disciplinary activities.

The auditors found that Montana licensing boards have more public members on average than other regulatory boards in Montana and other states and that the boards use licensure requirements and discipline activities appropriately to protect the public. The report makes a number of recommendations regarding administrative practices (e.g., staggering renewal dates so temporary assistance is unnecessary, and standardizing administrative fees and disciplinary procedures).

Illinois Department of Health suspends EMT Testing The Illinois Bureau County Republican reports that the Illinois Department of Health has temporarily suspended testing of emergency medical technicians because of alleged cheating by Chicago firefighters.

Open Encyclopedia Worth a Visit

Wikipedia is an open encyclopedia that is continuously updated by anyone (writing in any language) who wishes to edit the articles. The concept has caught the fancy of leading experts in many fields. It has several good articles of interest to the CLEAR community. A sampling:

European Professional Qualification Directives Profession Administrative Law

US: State Fiscal Outlook The National Governors Association and The National Association of State Budget Officers most recent survey of state finances suggests there is cause for guarded optimism that states may be showing signs of economic recovery, although the pattern is not uniform. The report says that “the state revenue situation might be characterized both as beginning to recover and ceasing to decline." Scott Pattison, executive director of NASBO, commented "Spending growth remains weak and the recovery continues to be uneven. To balance their budgets in fiscal 2004, states also used a combination of layoffs, furloughs, early retirement, reductions to local aid, reorganization of programs, and a variety of other methods." A .pdf file of the report may be downloaded from http://www.nga.org/cda/files/FSS0404.pdf . In a pair of interesting articles Paul Mullon with Metrofile in argues that "when it comes to records that need to be retained over the long term with few access requests, technology falls short" (see Media matters: Choosing the most appropriate storage medium). He suggests that "while disk is an IT vendor's dream, it is an archivist's nightmare" and recommends relying on an old standard for data longevity (see Microfilm outperforms disk archives). CLEAR News - Fall 2004

Bob Stonehill, in Memoriam

Robert Stonehill, a CLEAR member since 1983, died suddenly on August 2, 2004. Before his retirement, Bob was a Senior Professional Conduct Investigator, Office of Professional Discipline, New York State Education Department. A frequent CLEAR conference speaker, he received the CLEAR 2000 Service Award for designing and teaching a National Certified Investigator/Inspector Training (NCIT) program module entitled Investigative Resources/Internet Use.

Following his retirement, Bob spent time on many interests, but none was so special to him as the Flatlands Volunteer Ambulance and First Aid Corps which has posted a memorial tribute to him. Bob was a founding member and Chief Operating Officer of the corps, as well as its Web master.

Bob is survived by his wife Susan and his daughter Elizabeth, both of whom have been involved with the corps. CLEAR friends may make a memorial contribution to the Flatlands Volunteer Corps through the link above. He truly was one of a kind and will be missed. CLEAR News - Fall 2004

Agency Consolidation Is in the Air (Again)

As state governments face difficult economic conditions and limited budgets, cuts must be made somewhere. Several states have recently looked to agency consolidation/restructuring as an economical and efficient solution.

This spring, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich signed into effect an order that consolidates the Department of Professional Regulation, the Department of Insurance, the Department of Financial Institutions, and the Office of Banks and Real Estate into the new Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (DFPR). According to a press release from DFPR, they expect to save nearly $14 million in the first year as a result of the consolidation. The Governor states that the consolidated department, with over 800 employees serving nearly 1 million licensed professionals, "will improve efficiency and maximize the state's ability to ensure the integrity and standards of regulated industries and professions in Illinois."

A similar situation can be seen in the Health and Human Services System in Texas. As directed by HB2292, 12 Texas agencies will be collapsed into four departments to be overseen by the Health and Human Services Commission. The Department of State Health Services (one of the four new departments) includes the former Department of Mental Health and Retardation, Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Department of Health, and Health Care Information Council. The Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) Commissioner states that "bringing together the various programs will allow for better focus on the person and the care they receive." The administrative savings resulting from the Health and Human Services consolidation, an expected $1 billion over the next five years, can be redirected into services.

Saving money and increasing efficiency and accountability is likewise one of the goals of the proposed government reform report commissioned by California's Governor Schwarzenegger. The report, developed in part by Billy Hamilton, deputy comptroller, who guided the consolidation efforts in Texas, cites overlapping and duplicative functions of government departments and agencies resulting in costly inefficiencies and a confusing structure. In respect to regulatory boards and commissions, specifically cited are the numerous small agencies with duplication of administrative processes which are common to all programs. The report essentially calls for a complete overhaul of the California government, eliminating 118 boards and commissions and placing the functions of several regulatory boards under the Division of Commercial Licensing within the new Department of Commerce and Consumer Protection. Overall, the entire reorganization plan aims to save as much as $32 billion over the next five years and make the government better designed to serve the people of California.

In Arkansas, the House and Senate Committees on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs has approved a proposal to conduct a study to determine the costs of reorganization and the potential savings that may result. In 2003, a proposed measure to consolidate 53 agencies into 10 new departments did not pass through the House Committee on State and Government Affairs. Sponsors of the current proposal hope that the study will be completed in time to make a recommendation to the Legislature in January 2005. Since the Legislature will face many costly issues during the next session, lawmakers are being urged to consider ways to improve government efficiency and reduce costs.

Another consequence of these reorganizations, however, is the loss of jobs for hundreds of state employees. Some opponents of the reorganizations also fear that such a structure could give a governor or a single agency too much power over the regulatory process or make the process less transparent to the public that the agencies serve. As these new policies go into effect, agencies will enter a transitional period. If it can be demonstrated that these consolidated agencies meet their goals of reduced costs and increased efficiency, perhaps we will see a revival of the trend that resulted in the development of numerous consolidated agencies more than twenty-five years ago. International News - Fall 2004

International News

Legal Profession Set to Gain From Latest WTO Negotiations Current (WTO) negotiations will benefit legal professionals more than any other profession, according to the Deputy Director-General of the WTO, Rufus Yerxa.

Liberalizing the provision of legal services around the globe is moving up the international agenda, with intensive negotiations set to free up lawyers more than any other profession, the Deputy Director- General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) predicted last week.

In a speech in early September to the international legal organization Union Internationale des Avocats’ (UIA) annual conference in Geneva, Mr. Yerxa remarked that while few concessions had been made by countries in the first round of liberalization offers, more extensive activity had taken place away from the spotlight. “Like in many other sectors, little of substance has been offered in legal services,” he noted before adding “however, many members have been negotiating this sector intensively in bilateral and plurilateral settings, probably more than any other profession.” He added that “there is a trend towards greater openness in the legal profession.” Carlos Gimeno-Verdejo, a senior official in the European Commission’s trade directorate concurred with this assessment, saying legal services “are higher on the agenda than many people think.”

Mr. Yerxa said the likely outcome of the negotiations will be more countries accepting foreign law firms and professionals establishing a presence in territories where previously this was either impossible or discouraged. Of particular interest to European firms and professionals are offers from India, Korea, Japan, and where limited access has seen little foreign presence.

Underway since 2000, the Doha round of talks under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) aims to achieve further liberalization. Members made initial offers in 2003 which form the basis for negotiations until revised offers are made in May 2005.

To date, 44 WTO members have made offers on legal services with Korea, Guatemala, and Fiji doing so for the first time. Despite widespread reluctance to open local professions during the previous (Uruguay) round of negotiations, Mr. Gimeno-Verdejo contends, "now most of those restrictions are being targeted," with (a non-EU member of the WTO), for example, pushing for a regime similar to that within the EU.

Additional Resources: World Trade Organization Services Gateway - http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/serv_e.htm General Agreement in Trade in Services (GATS) - http://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/26-gats. pdf; Summary - http://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/ursum_e.htm#mAgreement

Union Internationale des Avocats’ (UIA) - http://www.uianet.org/index.jsp

Australian Competition Policy May Encourage Mutual Recognition Many credit Australia’s recent successful economic performance on the country’s competition policy and reform process undertaken by successive governments. The country’s National Competition Policy is now being reviewed by federal and state governments, with the outcome likely to be finalized early in 2005. The Chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Graeme Samuels, remarked in a recent speech that some professionals still practice in highly regulated environments and indicated that if anti-competitive measures remain in place over time, they have to be justified in the public interest. These remarks highlight the Commission’s concern that inconsistencies between state regulations may limit competition and may herald a drive towards greater harmonization of professional and occupational regulation across Australia’s states and territories.

Supporters of national practice for the professions point to the work being undertaken by the legal profession which is moving towards national practice legislation. The Law Council, which regulates the profession, has shaped the founding principles on which model laws for each state and territory are based. Commonwealth, State, and Territory Attorneys-General have agreed to endorse comprehensive model provisions as a basis for consistent laws to remove barriers to the national practice of law. No plans for national regulatory bodies are currently being discussed. Australian Law Council - www.lawcouncil.asn.au; National Practice - http://www.lawcouncil.asn.au/natpractice/home.html Australian Competition and Consumer Council - http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/142

EU Provides Overview of Recognition of Qualifications for New Member States As was reported in the last edition of CLEAR News, European Union Member States have instituted temporary regulations to address professional mobility to and from the ten new member states (Cyprus, Czech Republic, , , , , , , Slovakia, and ) that joined the EU on May 1, 2004. An overview of the new regulations can be found on the EU website at http://europa.eu.int/comm/ internal_market/qualifications/docs/specific-sectors/overview_en.pdf and profession-specific measures for architects, dentists, doctors, lawyers, midwives, nurses, pharmacists, and veterinarians can be found at http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/qualifications/specific-sectors_en.htm

Legislation Update:

The Australia US Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) was approved by the United States Congress in July and will come into force on 1 January 2005. More information on the Agreement can be found at http://www.dfat.gov.au/trade/negotiations/us.html Despite opposition from and Greece, the European Council has reached political agreement on the proposal for a Directive on the recognition of professional qualifications. The next step in the passage of the bill is for it to be submitted to the European Parliament for second reading. Further information about this latest development can be found at http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do? reference=MEMO/04/117&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

CLEAR News - Fall 2004

CLEAR CALENDAR

CLEAR MEETINGS MEMBER ACTIVITIES 2004 Annual Conference Association of Engineering Geologists 47th Annual 21st Century Regulation: "Show Me" What Works Meeting September 30 - October 2 September 26- October 2, 2004 The Westin Crown Center Hyatt Regency Dearborn Hotel Kansas City, Missouri Dearborn, Michigan www.aegweb.org 2005 Annual Conference September 15-17 Association of Marital and Family Therapy Pointe Hilton South Mountain Regulatory Boards Annual Meeting of the State Phoenix, Arizona Delegates September 29-30, 2004 Westin Crown Center CLEAR Business Meetings Kansas City, Missouri September 29-30, 2004 www.amftrb.org The Westin Crown Center Kansas City, Missouri ARELLO Annual Conference October 2-5, 2004 January 6-8, 2005 Pittsburgh, PA The Mills House Hotel www.arello.org Charleston, South Carolina National Association of State Boards of NCIT Programs Accountancy 97th Annual Meeting September 28-30, 2004 October 17-20, 2004 Basic and Specialized Program Marriott Chicago Downtown Kansas City, Missouri Chicago, Illinois www.nasba.org October 18-20, 2004 Basic and Specialized Program Jackson, Mississippi Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards 44th Annual Meeting of Delgates October 20-23, 2004 October 25-27, 2004 Atlanta, GA Specialized Program www.asppb.org Richmond, Virginia NOCA 2004 Annual Educational Conference March 8-10, 2005 (TENTATIVE) November 17-20, 2004 Specialized Program Loews Miami South Beach Norman, Oklahoma www.noca.org CLEAR News - Fall 2004

Guffey, Zukowski Announce Retirement

James L. Guffey, Deputy Director for Enforcement, Virginia Department of Occupational and Professional Regulation, and Jim Zukowski, Chief of the Bureau of Licensing and Compliance, Texas Department of State Health Services, both have announced their retirement. They have been involved with CLEAR since its early days and the good news is that both have announced their intention to remain involved with CLEAR following retirement.

They are both CLEAR award winners (Zukowski, 1996 Service Award and Guffey, 1989 Service Award and 2003 Member Achievement Award) and have been strong sustaining members throughout their time with CLEAR, sponsoring programs and speaking in various CLEAR conference sessions. Jim Guffey has been an instructor in the National Certified Investigator/Inspector Training (NCIT) program since its inception. Jim Zukowski is a current member of the editorial board of the CLEAR Exam Review and has contributed numerous articles to the journal over the years.

Jim Zukowski will be at the annual conference in Kansas City, so you'll be able to chat with him there. Jim Guffey will not be at this year's conference, but we look for him to reappear in Phoenix for the 2005 conference.