TITLE 18. PROFESSIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL LICENSING
BOARD FOR CONTRACTORS
Initial Agency Notice
Title of Regulation: 18VAC50-30. Individual License and Certification Regulations.
Statutory Authority: § 54.1-201 of the Code of Virginia.
Name of Petitioner: Patrick Jeffers.
Nature of Petitioner's Request: The petitioner requests the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation and the Board for Contractors amend subdivision 11 of 18VAC50-30-190, which provides for prohibited acts.
18VAC50-30-190 states, in part:
"Any of the following are cause for disciplinary action:
11. Where the regulant has been convicted or found guilty, after initial licensure or certification, regardless of adjudication, in any jurisdiction of any felony or of a misdemeanor involving lying, cheating or stealing, sexual offense, non-marijuana drug distribution, physical injury, or relating to the practice of the profession, there being no appeal pending therefrom or the time of appeal having elapsed. Any pleas of guilty or nolo contendere shall be considered a conviction for the purposes of this subdivision. The record of a conviction certified or authenticated in such form as to be admissible in evidence under the laws of the jurisdiction where convicted shall be admissible as prima facie evidence of such guilt;"
The petitioner requests that the term "sexual offense" in the prohibited act be stricken.
The petitioner contends that subdivision 11 of 18VAC50-30-190 invites the board to apply § 54.1-204 B of the Code of Virginia in a manner that exceeds the board's police power under §§ 54.1-100 and 54.1-201 A 5 by allowing the board to divest tradesman applicants with certain criminal convictions of their fundamental right to pursue and practice their occupations of choice absent the board's legitimate protective need to prevent them from perpetrating deceptive or misleading trade practices or to ensure their continuing trade competency in contravention of the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of Virginia, and federal and state statutory and common law.
The petition provides additional legal argument regarding the bases upon which the prohibited act exceeds the board's police power.
A copy of the petition is available from the agency.
Agency Plan for Disposition of Request: The petition for rulemaking will be published in the Virginia Register of Regulations on April 22, 2024. The petition will also be published on the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall at www.townhall.virginia.gov. Public comment on the petition will be received from April 22, 2024, to May 13, 2024. Upon conclusion of the public comment period, the board will consider all public comments received on the petition and make a decision to either grant or deny the petitioner's request at the board's next available meeting, which is expected to be held on June 18, 2024. The petitioner will be notified in writing of the board's decision.
Public Comment Deadline: May 13, 2024.
Agency Contact: Cameron Parris, Regulatory Operations Administrator, Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, 9960 Mayland Drive, Suite 400, Richmond, VA 23233, telephone (804) 367-9183, or email cameron.parris@dpor.virginia.gov.
VA.R. Doc. No. PFR24-31; Filed March 26, 2024, 8:09 a.m.