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A committee created in 2010 by the Indiana General Assembly has issued recommendations about the future of seven state licensing entities. Formed in an effort to reduce the number of government regulations, the Regulated Occupations Evaluation Committee (ROEC) has been charged with reviewing and evaluating 35 boards, commissions and committees regulated by the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency (IPLA). The report issued today focuses on seven boards evaluated in 2011.

Of the seven boards evaluated, the ROEC is recommending that four be eliminated, two modified, and one retained.

Indiana Dieticians Certification Board – Eliminate.
Committee of Indiana Hearing Aid Dealers – Eliminate.
Security Guard and Private Investigators Board – Eliminate.
State Board of Cosmetology and Barber Examiners – Eliminate.
Indiana State Board of Health Facility Administrators – Retain as mandated by federal statute or regulation, but relocate the function to the Indiana State Department of Health, which currently regulates long-term care healthcare facilities.
State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers – Retain in its current form but reduce licensing fees significantly and eliminate the license for engineering corporations. Indiana Optometry Board – Retain.

The ROEC has delivered its recommendations to the General Assembly, which can choose to act on them in the upcoming legislative session. In case the General Assembly decides against the main recommendations, the report also contains alternative recommendations. The entire report can be found at http://www.indiana.edu/~spea/pubs/regulated_occupations_recommendations_rpt.pdf.

The ROEC evaluated each regulatory agency using five criteria: risk analysis, informed consumer choice, self-regulation by the profession, legal alternatives to regulation and benefit-cost determination, and also considered whether regulations can be modernized to achieve their objectives. To ensure public input, the committee invited representatives from the selected boards to provide evidence and perspectives, as well as solicited opinions from IPLA staff, other state agencies and the public.

“The goal of this effort is to optimize government resources,” said John D. Graham, chair of the committee and dean of the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs. “In the course of our review, it became clear that several reform issues cut across many professions. Some of the issues include the consumer complaint process, funding for boards, and the design, implementation and oversight of continuing education requirements

Another set of boards is planned for evaluation in 2012.

ROEC members are Barry Boudreax, licensed pharmacist; Gloria Downham, program director, Indiana Office of Management and Budget; John D. Graham, dean of the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs; Frances Kelly, executive director of the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency; David Miller, Indiana Attorney General’s Office (non-voting); Sally Spiers, management systems analyst specialist; and Rita Springer, registered nurse.

IPLA is an umbrella agency for 35 boards, commissions and committees that regulate more than 70 occupations ranging from physicians, real estate brokers and engineers to dentists, barbers and accountants.

Source: Regulated Occupations Evaluation Committee