Georgia § 43-28-4 - Creation of board; members.

§ 43-28-4. Creation of board; members.

There is established the State Board of Occupational Therapy. The board shall consist of six members who shall each be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate for a term of four years and until a successor is appointed and qualified. The members of the board shall be citizens of the United States and residents of this state for at least one year prior to their appointment. Five members of the board shall have been engaged in rendering services to the public, teaching, or research in occupational therapy for at least three years immediately preceding their appointment and may be occupational therapists or occupational therapy assistants and shall at all times be holders of valid licenses for the practice of occupational therapy in this state. All of such members shall fulfill the requirements for licensure of this chapter. The sixth member shall be appointed from the public at large and shall have no connection whatsoever with the profession or practice of occupational therapy. At the expiration of a term, a board member shall be appointed in the same manner as the initial appointment; but no person shall be appointed to serve more than two consecutive terms. Terms shall begin on the first day of the calendar year and end on the last day of the calendar year or until successors are appointed. When a vacancy occurs on the board, the Governor shall appoint a member to fill the unexpired term. The Governor, after notice and opportunity for hearing by the board, may remove any member of the board for neglect of duty, incompetence, revocation or suspension of his or her license, or other dishonorable conduct. After such removal or vacancy due to other reasons, the Governor shall appoint a successor to the unexpired term. (Ga. L. 1976, p. 993, § 4; Ga. L. 1980, p. 61, § 1; Ga. L. 2019, p. 745, § 1/HB 253.) The 2019 amendment, effective July 1, 2019, in subsection (b), inserted "each" in the middle and added "for a term of four years and until a successor is appointed and qualified" at the end; designated the existing provisions of the second through fifth sentences of subsection (b) as present subsections (c) and (d); redesignated former subsection (c), as present subsection (e); rewrote subsection (e); deleted former subsection (d), which read: "The initial term of the member appointed from the public at large shall expire on June 30, 1984; thereafter, successors shall be appointed for a term of four years."; redesignated former subsections (e) and (f) as present subsections (f) and (g), respectively; and inserted "or her" near the end of the first sentence of subsection (g). Law reviews. - For comment on Rogers v. Medical Ass'n, 244 Ga. 151 , 259 S.E.2d 85 (1979), invalidating Georgia statute requiring Governor's appointments to Composite State Board of Medical Examiners (now Georgia Composite Medical Board) be made solely from nominees submitted by state medical society as an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority to a private organization, see 29 Emory L.J. 1183 (1980).