SCS/SB 788 - This act moves the Divisions of Finance, Credit Unions and Professional Registration, and the State Banking Board, to the Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions and Professional Registration (DIFP) by type III transfer in keeping with Executive Order 06-04. The act further renames the Department of Insurance to the DIFP, and directs the Revisor of Statutes to change all statutory references to the department to DIFP. The act also removes all references of the divisions of finance, credit unions and professional registration as being "within the Department of Economic Development" and instead states that such divisions are within the DIFP. The act moves sections regarding the division of professional registration from Chapter 620 (Department of Economic Development) to Chapter 324 (Occupations and Professions General Provisions), and changes references in those sections to accurately reflect the statutory modifications. The act further defines "department" and "director" at the beginning of each insurance-related chapter. These provisions are similar in nature to the provisions contained in SB 164 (2007). This act creates a Joint Committee on Preneed Funeral Contracts to be composed of 7 members from both legislative chambers. The committee must make a comprehensive study of the consumer and economic impact on preneed funeral contracts in Missouri. The study must be submitted to the General Assembly no later than January 31, 2009.
This act modifies the definition of the practice of embalming to provide that the practice shall include the chemical preparation of a dead human body and all activities leading up to and including arterial and cavity embalming. Under current law, a person may grant the right of sepulcher to any person as long as the designation is made in a written instrument meeting certain qualifications under current law, however, such a designation will not supersede the rights of the deceased's spouse or certain family members. This act deletes the provisions of law allowing for such a designation, and instead provides that an attorney in fact designated in a durable power of attorney that specifically grants the right of sepulcher shall have first priority for the purposes of determining who has the right to choose and control the burial, cremation, or other final disposition of the deceased designee's body.
Under this act, physical therapists shall not initiate treatment for a new injury or illness without a prescription from a health care provider. Therapists may examine and treat persons with recurring self-limited injuries within one year of diagnosis or a previously diagnosed chronic illness without a prescription or direction of a health care provider. Requirements for notification of and referral to health care providers are enumerated.
Physical therapy treatment shall only be delegated to assistants or those in entry level professional education programs when those individuals who satisfy supervised clinical education requirements are supervised onsite by a physical therapist.
Examination requirements for candidates for licenses to practice physical therapy are modified to include certain entry-level competence and the Missouri laws and rules relating to physical therapy. The act removes a provision that denies a license to those who have failed a licensing examination 3 or more times.
Under this act, the requirements relating to temporary licenses for physical therapists and physical therapist assistants are modified. Licensed physical therapists supervising temporary licensees must have an unencumbered license, actively practice in the state at least one year prior to supervision, and not be an immediate family member of the applicant for the temporary license.
Under the act, licensees shall maintain adequate and complete patient records and the required contents are enumerated. Records are required to be kept for seven years from the date the last professional treatment was provided.
Reciprocity for out-of-state practitioners is authorized.
Under the act, certain provisions that govern all licensees under chapter 334 including guidelines for the expungement of records of complaints by prisoners, fees, obtaining inactive licenses, publishing lists of licensees by the board, issuance of orders suspending licenses for cause, revocations, refusals to issue or renew licenses, and injunctions are reiterated in sections specifically relating to physical therapists and physical therapist assistants.
Under current law, persons, partnerships, associations, and corporations may perform acts of real estate brokers with reference to their own property without being licensed as brokers, provided they are not in the real estate business. This act removes the condition that they not be in the real estate business. Under this act, real estate brokers may employ real estate brokers from outside the state for commercial real estate transactions when they have executed a brokerage agreement with the Missouri broker, consented to jurisdiction of Missouri and the commission, consented to certain disciplinary procedures, and appointed the Missouri real estate commission as his or her agent for service of process.
Under this act, engagements to be performed in accordance with the auditing standards and rules of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board are included in the definition of attest or attest services. This act also modifies the out-of-state equivalency requirements for certified public accountants. Currently, an individual having a valid designation to practice whose principal place of business is in a state with equivalent qualifications for licensure shall have all of the privileges of licensure in this state. The act allows those having an out-of-state domicile or residency to also qualify. All out-of-state practitioners shall have an unrestricted license in their state to qualify and shall only practice in connection with a firm holding a valid permit to practice as a certified public accounting firm in this state. Out-of-state practitioners shall cease offering professional services if their out-of-state license ceases to be valid or becomes restricted.
The act also modifies the permit requirements for certified public accounting firms. The following firms must hold a permit:
• Those with Missouri offices that perform attest services.
• Those using the title CPA or CPA firm.
• Those that do not have an office in Missouri that perform attest services for clients with offices in Missouri.
Under the act, certain firms may use professional designations and perform compilation and review services and other professional services in certain circumstances.
The act establishes the "Manufactured Housing Customer Recovery Fund" for the purposes of paying consumer claims pursuant to the procedures the commission promulgates by rule. No claims shall be considered by the commission before all other legal remedies have been exhausted (Section 700.041). The act requires every manufacturer of a manufactured home or modular unit to register with the commission each place of business at which the dealer sells such units. The act modifies the dealer registration process by requiring dealers to, when registering, maintain a bona fide established place of business and maintain a permanent enclosed building or structure for the sale of manufactured homes or modular units (§700.095). The act also assigns new statutory numbers to several provisions of law contained in the manufactured housing code (Chapter 700)(e.g. §700.465 is now §700.097). The act specifically provides that commission suspension, revocation or probation orders shall apply to all registrations held by the dealer if there is consistent pattern of abuse. The act provides that the commission, through its general counsel, may seek remedies in circuit court for violations of Chapter 700. For purposes of the “Manufactured Home Installation Act, the term “dealer” is modified to include persons who sell 4 or more used manufactured homes or persons who sell one or more new manufactured homes (section 700.650). The manufactured housing provisions are similar to the provisions contained in SB 957 (2008), SCS/HCS/HB 1474 (2008) and SB 313 (2007).
STEPHEN WITTE