1. What is your department s primary purpose and objectives?

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1 Sanitarian Registration Board responses to Representative Faber for testimony on February 15, 2017 before the Finance Committee on State Government & Agency Review 1. What is your department s primary purpose and objectives? The State Board of Sanitarian Registration s mission is to protect public health by ensuring that registered sanitarians, who are professionals engaged in the practice, possess and maintain specialized knowledge and skills in the field of environmental health. The Board meets its mission by the examination of registrants, ensuring that continuing education requirements are met, and the investigation of complaints. Registered sanitarians conduct inspections and provide consultation and instruction in environmental health programs such as food protection, dairy sanitation, drinking water quality, private wastewater management, solid waste, and institutional health and safety. 2. What is your department s past and anticipated workload, the number of staff required to complete that workload, and the department s total number of staff? Also provide a breakdown of how many staff work in administration, customer service, or in the field. The Sanitarian Registration Board functions with a staff of 1.3 full time employees. There is a full time executive secretary who serves as the Board director and a part time intermittent clerk who is budgeted at 1,000 hours per year. The executive secretary functions in all roles from administrator to customer service assistant and the clerk s primary function is data entry and assisting with basic office tasks. The 1.3 FTE s will serve the current licensed population, which is roughly 1,500 registrants. Each year the staff will: Review over 1,500 continuing education requests for approval; Review and comment on the education and experience of over 250 applicants for registration; Administer examinations at least three times per year to approximately 50 applicants; Ensure continuing education compliance through the annual renewal of all registrations; and Review and investigate all complaints filed with the Board. 3. Please identify the rules adopted by your department and explain how these rules are consistent with the legislative mandate of the department as expressed in the statutes that created and empowered the department? The Board is responsible for OAC through The Board reviews rules every five years, or as often as necessary, in accordance with ORC Does your department s jurisdiction or any of its programs overlap or duplicate those of other departments? If so, what is the extent to which your department coordinates with those other

2 departments and the extent to which the department s programs could be consolidated with the programs of other state departments? There is not overlap with other departments. Sanitarians are employed in many fields and by various agencies including the Ohio Department of Health, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Ohio Department of Agriculture, local boards of health, colleges/universities and private industry. However, the purpose of the Board is the regulation of the profession and enforcement of Chapter 4736., which is specific to this agency alone. 5. Is your department necessary to protect the health, safety, or welfare of the public? If so, how? The purpose of the Board is public health protection. This is accomplished by ensuring that sanitarians are well trained and maintain minimum continuing competency within their field. Environmental health is such a broad field and covers so many areas that ensuring the competence of the sanitarian population is essential. They are the individuals who are responsible for ensuring that restaurants are safe and that the food handlers are at those establishments are working correctly and within the confines of the food safety code. They are the individuals who ensure that our drinking water is safe by testing it for lead and sewage. They are the people who are responsible for ensuring that sewage is not leaking from septic tanks into our neighbor s yards and water supply. Ensuring that these individuals are properly educated and meet not only minimum education standards, but also minimum continuing education standards, this Board aids in the protection of the public every day in ways many people never consider. 6. What is the amount of regulation exercised by your department compared to such regulation, if any, in other states? Sanitarian registration is not mandatory in all 50 states. In some states, only registration with the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) is required to practice environmental health. In other states, registration/licensure is required but continuing education is not. There is not a national standard with regard to licensure/continuing education requirements for sanitarians. 7. Describe the general costs and impact of your department s activities on Ohio s businesses and individuals. The Sanitarian Registration Board is a fee funded Board. The funds received are deposited into the 4K90 fund for Occupational/Regulatory Licensing. Over the past several years, the Board s costs have increase as the general result of conducting business. Approximately 90% of the Board s costs are fixed and are paid to other state agencies (ex: DAS) and payroll. The variable costs are paid to NEHA for the purchase of the exam, which fluctuates depending on how many individuals register for the

3 examination in any given year, and miscellaneous expenditures for office supplies. The impact to business has been minimal, as the majority of individuals are responsible for their own licensure fees. We do not have statistics on reimbursement from employers for application and/or renewal fees. The impact on individuals has been minimal. Though the Board has increased license renewal fees and is proposing a fee increase in the current budget language, there are abundant online and free continuing education activities that are available to the licensed population. This option can somewhat offset the increase in the cost of the license renewal proposed increase. 8. Identify and explain your customer service standards and what methods you use to monitor or improve customer service at your agency. The Ohio Sanitarian Registration Board adheres to the customer service standards listed below in compliance with Section of the Ohio Revised Code. The agency s mission and staff size dictate that these standards apply to all positions. The Board s customers include: The citizens of Ohio Students considering a career in public health as a sanitarian Applicants for registration Current registrants Federal, state, and local government agencies State and national professional associations National credentialing and testing organizations The Board s customer service goals: We will treat all of our customers with courtesy and respect. We will provide high quality service by employing a knowledgeable staff. We will provide complete, accurate and precise information in a timely fashion. We will continue to improve our customer service based on customer feedback. Customer Service Standards: The Board s regular office hours are Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. If a customer receives the agency voic and leaves a message, the call will be returned the same business day the message is received. If a customer sends an to the Board office, a response will be sent to the customer the same business day the is received. If the Board office staff is not able to answer a question from a customer, the customer will be referred to the most appropriate entity or directed to submit their question in writing so the Board can review and respond to the inquiry appropriately.

4 Written correspondence will be professional and the information contained in the correspondence will be complete, accurate and precise. All address change requests will be processed the same business day they are received unless otherwise requested by the customer. All requests for verification to another jurisdiction will be processed the same business day the request is received. Applicants for registration and continuing education approval will be notified by mail within a week of the Board meeting date of their application status. 9. Please provide an assessment of the authority of your department regarding fees, inspections, enforcement, and penalties. The only fees charged/received by the Board are related to the licensure of registrants. Registration fees are deposited into the 4K90 account to support the activities defined in the programs. Section of the ORC currently provides the authority to charge the following: Registered sanitarian and sanitarian in training annual renewal fee: $90 Registered sanitarian and sanitarian in training late renewal fee: $75 Sanitarian in training application fee: $80 Registered sanitarian application fee: $160 Advancement from sanitarian in training to registered sanitarian application fee: $80 Examination fee (pencil/paper exam): $165 Examination fee (online): $265 Training agency application fee: $54 Training agency renewal fee: $27 Monies received at the Board office are deposited directly into the Occupational Licensing Fund (4K90). Section of the ORC deals with the Board s ability to deny, revoke or suspend a license. This is also referenced in rule of the OAC. The Board does not have financial penalties or conduct inspections. 10. Has your department s operation been impeded or enhanced by existing statutes and procedures and by budgetary, resource, and personnel practices? If so, which sections? The Board currently operates within the budgetary and statutory confines without much problem. The only area of concern that I would like to draw attention to is the cost for the mandatory biennial audit pursuant to Section of the ORC. For an agency of this size, the cost of the audit can be staggering. For example, the last biennial audit of the agency covering fiscal years cost $7,899 and the audit covering fiscal years cost $7,738, which is the Board s largest cost next to those incurred from DAS.

5 11. Has your department recommended statutory changes to the general assembly that would benefit the public as opposed to the persons regulated by the department? If so, have those policies been adopted and implemented? No. 12. Has your department required or requested any persons it regulates to report to it the impact of department rules and decisions on the public as they affect service costs and service delivery? Any time the Board reviews rules, they are subject to CSI. During that process, it is requested that any individual or stakeholder who is impacted submit information regarding how/why to CSI and the Board. Currently, the only continuous feedback we receive regarding costs are that retirees should be offered a cost break since they are no longer employed full time. 13. Describe how your department encouraged public participation in its rule-making and decision-making? The board does encourage input from the public and all stakeholders when making rules. is sent out when rules are being drafted to gain input, while the process is going on and again during CSI. Any comments that are received are reviewed by the board and considered. 14. What is the process for formal public complaints that are filed with the department? And how are they resolved? Any complaint that is filed with the Board is received in the office then reviewed by the investigative committee. This committee consists of one member of the board, the assistant attorney general and the executive secretary. Once the complaint has been vetted, a recommendation on how to proceed is made to the full board and voted upon. This agency typically receives, on average, one complaint per year. 15. Does federal law require that Ohio perform some or all of the tasks of your agency.? If so, what functions are required and how are they met? N/A 16. Please describe in detail how any state regulation or rule, of your department, exceeds or differs from any similar federal requirements with a similar impact. N/A 17. Please identify the department s practices and methods to comply with public records requests; any methods to make your records more generally available or online; the number

6 of public records disputes during the last 2 years and the top 3 record types that are requested by the public. Our agency does comply with Ohio s public records law. All public records requests are filled within the time frames and in the manner specified by the statute. With the new elicense.ohio.gov website, it is much easier for members of the public and licensees to find lists of individual by last name, license type and/or business. This system has increased our ability to offer records online. Previously, individuals were not able to look up any information on businesses. During the past two years, we have had no public records disputes. The top three types of requests we receive are for mailing lists of licensees, lists of approved training agencies, and lists of individual specified by county.

7 If your department issues licenses, please answer the following: 1. Are such licenses required by federal law and, if so, what law(s)? No. These licenses are not required by federal law. 2. What is the extent to which licensing ensures that practitioners have occupational skill sets or competencies that correlate with a public interest? What is the impact that those criteria have on applicants for a license, particularly those with moderate and low incomes, seeking to enter the occupation or profession? In order to become a sanitarian in Ohio, you must have at least a bachelor s degree from an accredited college or university. Within that degree, you must have completed, at a minimum, 45 quarter hours or 30 semester hours in the fields of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Geology, Math and/or Statistics. Licensees must also take and pass the NEHA examination to become full registered sanitarians. Continuing education is required for license renewal. All licensees must complete at least 18 hours of Board approved continuing education annually to renew their license. 3. What is the extent to which the requirement for the license stimulates or restricts competition, affects consumer choice, and affects the cost of services? It does not.