Legislative Rule-Making Review Committee approves scores of agency rules, sets Oct. 1 meeting

The Legislative Rule-Making Review Committee met at 5:00 p.m. Aug. 27, 2024, in the Senate Judiciary Committee Room. Senator Woodrum, chair of the committee, called the meeting to order and the Clerk took a silent roll call to confirm a quorum. Phillip Childs, Joint Committee Counsel, presented abstracts of proposed rules across multiple state agencies, and Delegate Smith moved the procedural actions approving those rules.

Childs read abstracts for an initial set of proposed rules covering records management and preservation, retention and disposal scheduling, records-center management, and financial service reporting by the Department of Administration (148 CSR 12; 148 CSR 13; 148 CSR 14; 148 CSR 24), and fees for registration of architects (2 CSR 03). On motion of Delegate Smith, the committee approved that set as filed.

Childs then listed additional proposed rules from the State Auditor, the West Virginia Conservation Agency, the Health Care Authority, the Department of Highways (including rights-of-way and hazardous-waste-transportation provisions and small wireless facilities on rights-of-way), the Insurance Commission, several professional licensing boards (including rules on consideration of prior criminal convictions and fee waivers), and the State Tax Department (110 CSR 15C; 110 CSR 50C). The committee approved this larger group as filed where indicated and approved other rules as modified after agencies agreed to proposed adjustments.

Several individual rules were discussed in more detail. Childs explained the Board of Architects' Registration of Architects rule (2 CSR 01); the agency agreed to modifications on a motion by Delegate Smith and the committee approved the rule as modified. The Division of Natural Resources' rule on public use of campgrounds and campsites (58 CSR 32) and the Board of Occupational Therapy's rule on consideration of prior convictions in licensure determinations (13 CSR 08) likewise were modified by agreement with the agency and approved as modified. Additional modified approvals included rules from the Board of Examiners of Psychologists (17 CSR 07), the Board of Respiratory Care (30 CSR 10), and the State Tax Department regarding electronic funds transfer payment of taxes (110 CSR 10F).

Other actions included approval as filed of certain Department of Administration fleet-management exemptions (148 CSR 23) and fees rules for the Board of Occupational Therapy (13 CSR 03), while competency standards (13 CSR 05) and telehealth practice rules for occupational therapists and respiratory-care providers (13 CSR 09; 30 CSR 11) were approved as modified after the agencies agreed to changes on the record.

Chairman Woodrum announced the committee will next meet Oct. 1. With no further business, Delegate Smith moved to adjourn; the motion was adopted and the meeting was closed.

Votes and motions recorded in the minutes show Delegate Smith as the mover on the motions approving and modifying rules; the transcript records adoption of motions but does not list individual roll-call vote tallies in the minutes. Where the minutes state only that “the agency agreed to modifications were adopted” or that rules were “approved as filed,” this article reports those procedural outcomes as stated in the committee minutes.