Vermont H 524: An act relating to preventing sprawl through municipal zoning

Bill Text

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VT LEG #384775 v.1
H.524 1
Introduced by Representative Stone of Burlington 2
Referred to Committee on 3
Date: 4
Subject: Health care; professional regulation; respiratory therapists; respiratory 5
care practitioners; Respiratory Care Interstate Compact 6
Statement of purpose of bill as introduced: This bill proposes that the State 7
adopt and enter into the Respiratory Care Interstate Compact. 8
An act relating to Vermont’s adoption of the Respiratory Care Interstate 9
Compact 10
It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont: 11
Sec. 1. 26 V.S.A. chapter 91 is amended to read: 12
CHAPTER 91. RESPIRATORY CARE 13
Subchapter 1. General Provisions 14
§ 4701. DEFINITIONS 15
* * * 16
Subchapter 2. Respiratory Care Interstate Compact 17
§ 4721. RESPIRATORY CARE INTERSTATE COMPACT; ADOPTION 18
This subchapter is the Vermont adoption of the Respiratory Care Interstate 19
Compact. The form, format, and text of the Compact have been conformed to 20

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VT LEG #384775 v.1
the conventions of the Vermont Statutes Annotated. It is the intent of the 1
General Assembly that this subchapter be interpreted as substantively the same 2
as the Respiratory Care Interstate Compact that is enacted by other Compact 3
party states. 4
§ 4722. TITLE AND PURPOSE 5
(a) The purpose of this Compact is to facilitate the interstate practice of 6
respiratory therapy with the goal of improving public access to respiratory 7
therapy services by providing respiratory therapists licensed in a member state 8
the ability to practice in other member states. The Compact preserves the 9
regulatory authority of states to protect public health and safety through the 10
current system of state licensure. 11
(b) This Compact is designed to achieve the following objectives: 12
(1) increase public access to respiratory therapy services by creating a 13
responsible, streamlined pathway for licensees to practice in member states 14
with the goal of improving outcomes for patients; 15
(2) enhance states’ ability to protect the public’s health and safety; 16
(3) promote the cooperation of member states in regulating the practice 17
of respiratory therapy within those member states; 18
(4) ease administrative burdens on states by encouraging the 19
cooperation of member states in regulating multistate respiratory therapy 20
practice; 21

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(5) support relocating active military members and their spouses; and 1
(6) promote mobility and address workforce shortages. 2
§ 4723. DEFINITIONS 3
As used in this Compact, unless the context requires otherwise, the 4
following definitions shall apply: 5
(1) “Active military member” means any person with a full-time duty 6
status in the U.S. Armed Forces, including members of the National Guard and 7
Reserve. 8
(2) “Adverse action” means any administrative, civil, equitable, or 9
criminal action permitted by a state’s laws that is imposed by any state 10
authority with regulatory authority over respiratory therapists, such as license 11
denial, censure, revocation, suspension, probation, monitoring of the licensee, 12
or restriction on the licensee’s practice, not including participation in an 13
alternative program. 14
(3) “Alternative program” means a nondisciplinary monitoring or 15
practice remediation process applicable to a respiratory therapist approved by 16
any state authority with regulatory authority over respiratory therapists. This 17
includes, but is not limited to, programs to which licensees with substance 18
abuse or addiction issues are referred in lieu of adverse action. 19
(4) “Charter member states” means those member states who were the 20
first seven states to enact the Compact into the laws of their state. 21

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(5) “Commission” or “Respiratory Care Interstate Compact 1
Commission” means the government instrumentality and body politic whose 2
membership consists of all member states that have enacted the Compact. 3
(6) “Commissioner” means the individual appointed by a member state 4
to serve as the member of the Commission for that member state. 5
(7) “Compact” means the Respiratory Care Interstate Compact. 6
(8) “Compact privilege” means the authorization granted by a remote 7
state to allow a licensee from another member state to practice as a respiratory 8
therapist in the remote state under the remote state’s laws and rules. The 9
practice of respiratory therapy occurs in the member state where the patient is 10
located at the time of the patient encounter. 11
(9) “Criminal background check” means the submission by the member 12
state of fingerprints or other biometric-based information on license applicants 13
at the time of initial licensing for the purpose of obtaining that applicant’s 14
criminal history record information, as defined in 28 C.F.R. § 20.3(d) or a 15