TITLE 18. PROFESSIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL LICENSING

BOARD OF COUNSELING

Initial Agency Notice

Title of Regulation: 18VAC115-20. Regulations Governing the Practice of Professional Counseling.

Statutory Authority: § 54.1-2400 of the Code of Virginia.

Name of Petitioner: Aimee Brickner.

Nature of Petitioner's Request: Amend the qualifications for supervision to allow a licensed counselor to supervise residents without the two-year post-licensure clinical experience requirement if the licensee has completed a doctoral level supervision course or doctoral level supervision internship as a part of the completion of a doctoral degree.

Agency Plan for Disposition of Request: In accordance with Virginia law, the petition will be filed with the Virginia Registrar of Regulations and published on June 24, 2019, with comment requested until July 23, 2019. It will also be placed on the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall and be available for comments to be posted electronically. At its first meeting following the close of comment, which is scheduled for August 16, 2019, the board will consider the request to amend regulations and all comment received in support or opposition. The petitioner will be informed of the board's response and any action it approves.

Public Comment Deadline: July 23, 2019.

Agency Contact: Elaine J. Yeatts, Regulatory Coordinator, Department of Health Professions, 9960 Mayland Drive, Suite 300, Richmond, VA 23233, telephone (804) 367-4688, or email elaine.yeatts@dhp.virginia.gov.

VA.R. Doc. No. R19-36; Filed May 23, 2019, 8:34 a.m.

Agency Decision

Title of Regulation: 18VAC115-60. Regulations Governing the Practice of Licensed Substance Abuse Treatment Practitioners.

Statutory Authority: § 54.1-2400 of the Code of Virginia.

Name of Petitioner: Michael Hayter.

Nature of Petitioner's Request: To amend regulations to waive the requirement for an examination for licensed clinical social workers who can show clinical experience based in substance abuse services to become licensed substance abuse treatment practitioners. Licensed professional counselors currently have such a waiver.

Agency Decision: Request denied.

Statement of Reason for Decision: The petition was published with comment requested from January 21, 2019, to February 20, 2019. There were no public comments posted electronically on the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall or received by the board. At its meeting on May 31, 2019, the board discussed the request to amend regulations and voted not to initiate rulemaking. Recently, the board conducted a periodic review of regulations and recommended that the exemption from examination currently in place for licensed professional counselors be deleted in regulations governing licensure of substance abuse treatment practitioners. Therefore, members did not support adding an exemption for licensed clinical social workers.

Agency Contact: Jaime Hoyle, Executive Director, Board of Counseling, 9960 Mayland Drive, Suite 300, Richmond, VA 23233, telephone (804) 367-4406, or email jaime.hoyle@dhp.virginia.gov.

VA.R. Doc. No. R19-20; Filed May 31, 2019, 3:06 p.m.

Agency Decision

Title of Regulation: 18VAC115-80. Regulations Governing the Registration of Qualified Mental Health Professionals.

Statutory Authority: § 54.1-2400 of the Code of Virginia.

Name of Petitioner: Michelle Morganegg.

Nature of Petitioner's Request: To revise regulations to accept a bachelor's degree in criminology and criminal justice to qualify for registration as a qualified mental health professional-child and to accept supervised experience obtained in another state.

Agency Decision: Request denied.

Statement of Reason for Decision: At its meeting on May 31, 2019, the board discussed the request to amend regulations and voted not to initiate rulemaking. In its adoption of final regulations to replace the emergency regulations currently in effect, the board has already proposed an amendment to accept supervised experience obtained in another United States jurisdiction, so a further amendment is unnecessary to respond to that aspect of the petition.

While guidance document 115-8 does not list criminology as a related degree for QMHP registration, it does say: "The board may consider other degrees in human services or in fields related to the provision of mental health services." Therefore, it is possible that an applicant's coursework may be sufficient to determine that the applicant is qualified in the provision of mental health services.

Agency Contact: Jaime Hoyle, Executive Director, Board of Couseling, 9960 Mayland Drive, Suite 300, Richmond, VA 23233, telephone (804) 367-4406, FAX (804) 527-4435, or email jaime.hoyle@dhp.virginia.gov.

VA.R. Doc. No. R19-39; Filed May 31, 2019, 15:17 p.m.

BOARD OF DENTISTRY

Initial Agency Notice

Title of Regulation: 18VAC60-21. Regulations Governing the Practice of Dentistry.

Statutory Authority: § 54.1-2400 of the Code of Virginia.

Name of Petitioner: Dagoberto Zapatero.

Nature of Petitioner's Request: Amendments to clarify that a digital scan is the equivalent of a final impression if used to fabricate an appliance to be inserted into a patient's mouth and to specify that a patient-doctor relationship should be established in a face-to-face encounter.

Agency Plan for Disposition of Request: The petition will be published on June 24, 2019, in the Virginia Register of Regulations and also posted on the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall at www.townhall.virginia.gov to receive public comment, ending July 23, 2019. The request to amend regulations and any comments for or against the petition will be considered by the board at the first scheduled meeting after close of comment, which will be September 13, 2019. The petitioner will receive information on the board's decision after that date.

Public Comment Deadline: July 23, 2019.

Agency Contact: Elaine J. Yeatts, Regulatory Coordinator, Department of Health Professions, 9960 Mayland Drive, Suite 300, Richmond, VA 23233, telephone (804) 367-4688, or email elaine.yeatts@dhp.virginia.gov.

VA.R. Doc. No. R19-38; Filed June 4, 2019, 10:45 a.m.

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TITLE 24. TRANSPORTATION AND MOTOR VEHICLES

COMMISSION ON THE VIRGINIA ALCOHOL SAFETY ACTION PROGRAM

Initial Agency Notice

Title of Regulation: 24VAC35-60. Ignition Interlock Regulations.

Statutory Authority: § 18.2-270.2 of the Code of Virginia.

Name of Petitioner: Cynthia Hites.

Nature of Petitioner's Request: "I, Cynthia Hites, a citizen of the Commonwealth of Virginia, pursuant to § 2.2-4007 of the Code of Virginia, do humbly submit this petition for the following amendment to Virginia Administrative Code 24VAC35-60-70 F 3 (Ignition Interlock Regulations). This petition does not seek to address ethanol specificity, as it is already established by law. 24VAC35-60-70 states Virginia ignition interlock machines 'shall be alcohol specific,' and 24VAC35-60-20 defines that alcohol as ethyl alcohol (C₂H₅OH). The machines shall be ethanol specific, and that is not in question. This petition directly addresses the state's usage of the electrochemical fuel cell for ignition interlock, and because it cannot meet the standards set forth by law, avenues must be opened to improve the science behind breath testing. The electrochemical fuel cell is a simple and unsophisticated tool used to detect alcohol, which, in chemistry, as in this context, does not mean drinking liquor, but simply means any organic compound that contains one or more hydroxl groups attached to a carbon atom. These alcohols include, but are not limited to: Sorbitol (C₆H₁₄O₆), Isopropanol (C₃H₈O), Cholesterol (C₂₇H₄₆O), Xylitol (C₅H₇(OH)₅), Erythritol (C₄H₁₀O₄), Methanol (CH₄O), Menthol (C₁₀H₂₀O), and Cortisol (C₂₁H₃₀O₅). For this reason, Virginia law 24VAC35-60-20 explicitly defines alcohol as the compound C₂H₅OH, which is ethanol. Being non-ethanol specific, the electrochemical fuel cell measures and records citizen's private biological medical information and misconstrues it falsely as ethanol. I believe this is an invasion of the medical privacy afforded by the Health Insurance Portability and Affordability Act. Measuring a litany of bodily organic compounds and claiming them to be ethanol is unethical, invasive, and totally misleading to the general public. It goes against the intent of the statute. To have any lesser standard than ethanol specificity is a disservice to society, and because the electrochemical fuel cell measures an unknown and inexhaustive set of compounds, its usage must be suspended until such time a device can be proven to meet the standards set forth by 24VAC35-60-20 and 24VAC35-60-70. Currently, 24VAC35-60-70 F 3 states: '3. The ignition interlock device shall be alcohol specific, using an electrochemical fuel cell that reacts to and measures ethanol, minimizing positive results from other substances.' This petition seeks to change the wording from 'an electrochemical fuel cell' to 'technology' and to change the word 'minimizing' to 'eliminating,' thus reading: '3. The ignition interlock device shall be alcohol specific, using technology that reacts to and measures ethanol, eliminating positive results from other substances.' A device that detects and measures only drinking alcohol is a product of science fiction. Electrochemical fuel cells measure and collect private health data and bodily emissions, aside from drinking alcohol, then uses that private health data to falsely accuse citizens of ethanol ingestion. Continued usage of electrochemical fuel cells for this purpose constitutes nothing less than governmental gaslighting."

Agency Plan for Disposition of Request: This petition will be considered by the Commission on the Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program at its first quarterly meeting in 2020 (date to be determined).

Public Comment Deadline: December 31, 2019.

Agency Contact: Richard Foy, Field Service Specialist, Commission on the Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program, 701 East Franklin Street, Suite 1110, Richmond VA 23219, telephone (804) 786-5895, or email rfoy@vasap.virginia.gov.

VA.R. Doc. No. R19-37; Filed May 24, 2019, 11:15 a.m.