Bill Text: MS HB980 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Board of Dental Examiners; provide that the state-at-large position shall be appointed from nominations by the Mississippi Dental Society.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2024-03-05 - Died In Committee [HB980 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2024-HB980-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2024 Regular Session
To: Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency
By: Representative Bell (65th)
House Bill 980
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 73-9-7, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT THE STATE-AT-LARGE POSITION ON THE STATE BOARD OF DENTAL EXAMINERS SHALL BE APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR FROM A LIST OF THREE MEMBERS NOMINATED BY THE MISSISSIPPI DENTAL SOCIETY, EACH OF WHOM BEING THE MEMBERS WHO RECEIVED THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF VOTES ON A STATEWIDE BALLOTING POLL CONDUCTED BY THE BOARD; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 73-9-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
73-9-7. (1) The duties of
the Mississippi State Board of Dental Examiners, or "the board,"
shall be to carry out the purposes and provisions of the laws pertaining to the
practice of dentistry and dental hygiene. The Mississippi State Board of
Dental Examiners * * * shall consist of
seven (7) licensed and actively practicing dentists and one (1) licensed and
actively practicing dental hygienist, each a graduate of an accredited college
of dentistry or dental hygiene, as appropriate, and practicing within the State
of Mississippi for a period of five (5) or more years next preceding his or her
appointment. No dentist or dental hygienist shall be eligible for appointment
who can be construed to be in violation of current state ethics laws and
regulations.
(2) * * * The term of each of the * * * dentist and dental hygienist
appointees provided for in this section shall be for a period of six (6) years
and shall terminate on and after June 30 of the sixth year.
(3) The Governor shall appoint one (1) dentist member of the board from the state at large, with the advice and consent of the Senate. The state-at-large member shall be appointed from a list of three (3) members nominated by the Mississippi Dental Society, each of whom being the members who received the highest number of votes on a statewide balloting poll conducted by the board.
The poll shall consist of a blank ballot with three (3) spaces for nominations provided to all licensed members of the Mississippi Dental Society. The members of the Mississippi Dental Society shall have the option to choose whether to cast
ballots solely for the one (1) state-at-large position or to cast their ballots for one (1) of the six (6) appointed positions from the districts, but not from both.
During the year, the board shall take like polls of the licensed Mississippi Dental Society members practicing in the state and shall prepare a new list of three (3) Mississippi Dental Society members. The three (3) Mississippi Dental Society members receiving the highest number of votes shall be submitted by the Mississippi Dental Society to the board. The board shall submit the list of those Mississippi Dental Society members receiving the highest number of votes to the Governor, which shall be used by the Governor in making the appointment of the state-at-large position. In case of a tie, the members receiving tie votes shall have their names placed on the list even though it results in more than three (3) names on the list.
(4) Upon expiration of the term of office of any of the six (6) members of the board who are appointed from districts, the Governor shall appoint his successor from a list of names to be submitted as set out in this subsection. All appointments to the board from districts shall be made with the advice and consent of the Senate.
The board shall poll all licensed dentists in the state by dental district as follows:
Dental District One: Alcorn, Benton, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Clay, Itawamba, Lafayette, Lee, Lowndes, Marshall, Monroe, Oktibbeha, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Tippah, Tishomingo, Union, Webster;
Dental District Two: Bolivar, Carroll, Coahoma, DeSoto, Grenada, Holmes, Humphreys, Issaquena, Leflore, Montgomery, Panola, Quitman, Sharkey, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tunica, Washington, Yalobusha, Yazoo;
Dental District Three: Attala, Clarke, Covington, Forrest, Jasper, Jones, Kemper, Lamar, Lauderdale, Leake, Neshoba, Newton, Noxubee, Perry, Scott, Smith, Wayne, Winston;
Dental District Four: Hinds, Madison, Rankin, Warren;
Dental District Five: George, Greene, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Pearl River, Stone;
Dental District Six: Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Copiah, Franklin, Jefferson Davis, Jefferson, Lawrence, Lincoln, Marion, Pike, Simpson, Walthall, Wilkinson;
and request the submission from each such dental district of three (3) nominations for appointment as members of the board from the six (6) districts. Thirty (30) days after submitting that request, the board shall list all nominations by district according to the number of votes each received. The top three (3) names from each district shall then be considered as a list of names to be submitted to the Governor as referred to above each time a vacancy occurs in one (1) of the six (6) positions appointed from districts or whenever the Governor requests that submission. During the course of each calendar year, the board shall take like polls of all licensed dentists practicing in each dental district, and shall prepare new lists therefrom to be submitted to the Governor, which shall be used in the appointment of the six (6) members appointed from districts.
It is the purpose of this section that no more than one (1) appointee of the six (6) members appointed from districts shall serve from any district at any one time. The names on the lists shall be given priority in accordance with the votes for each nominee. In case of a tie, the persons receiving tie votes shall have their names placed on the list even though it results in more than three (3) names on the list from that district.
( * * *5) The one (1) dental hygienist member
shall be appointed by the Governor from the state at large from a list of six
(6) dental hygienists, each of whom being the dental hygienist receiving the
highest number of votes in his or her individual district from a poll conducted
and compiled by the board. The poll shall consist of a blank ballot with three
(3) spaces for nomination provided to all licensed dental hygienists in the
state. During the course of each calendar year, the board shall take like
polls of all licensed dental hygienists practicing in the state, and shall
prepare a new list of six (6) dental hygienists, the list to consist of the
dental hygienists receiving the highest number of votes in each district, to be
submitted to the Governor, which shall be used in the appointment of the dental
hygienist member from the state at large. In case of a tie, the persons
receiving tie votes shall have their names placed on the list even though it
results in more than six (6) names on the list.
The board shall poll all licensed dental hygienists in the state by dental district as that enumerated in subsection (3) of this section.
( * * *6) No dentist or dental hygienist
member shall be permitted to serve consecutive terms, but may be nominated for
reappointment after the expiration of six (6) years from the conclusion of his
or her term. Any vacancy in the board membership shall be filled by the Governor
within sixty (60) days by appointment from the list of nominees submitted for
the existing term of office. Any appointment made to fill a vacancy or to
replace an incumbent holding over shall terminate in accordance with the
designation of the particular term and until his or her successor is duly
appointed and qualified.
( * * *7) A vote for an individual dentist or
dental hygienist in all polls may be counted only once for each ballot no
matter how many times the name is listed on the ballot.
( * * *8) The Secretary of State shall, at
his discretion, at any time there is sufficient cause, investigate the method
and procedure of taking those polls and establishing those lists, and the board
shall make available to him all records involved therein; and if the Secretary
of State should find cause therefor he may, upon specifying the cause, declare
the list invalid, whereupon the board shall follow the procedure set out above
to establish a new list. If a vacancy exists and no list is available, the
Board of Dental Examiners is to follow the above-described procedure in
establishing a new list for the appropriate board appointment.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2024.
