Montana Code 37-1-101. Duties of department
37-1-101. Duties of department. In addition to the provisions of 2-15-121, the department shall:
Terms Used In Montana Code 37-1-101
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Board: means a licensing board created under Title 2, chapter 15, that regulates a profession or occupation and that is administratively attached to the department as provided in 2-15-121. See Montana Code 37-1-130
- Department: means the department of labor and industry established in 2-15-1701. See Montana Code 37-1-130
- Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- License: means permission granted under a chapter of this title to engage in or practice at a specific level in a profession or occupation, regardless of the specific term used for the permission, including permit, certificate, recognition, or registration. See Montana Code 37-1-130
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
(1)establish and provide all the administrative, legal, and clerical services needed by the boards within the department, including corresponding, receiving and processing routine applications for licenses as defined by a board, issuing and renewing routine licenses as defined by a board, disciplining licensees, setting administrative fees, preparing agendas and meeting notices, conducting mailings, taking minutes of board meetings and hearings, and filing. In issuing routine licenses for a board, the department shall issue a license within 45 days from the time of receiving a completed application or, within 10 calendar days, provide notice and response timelines to the applicant of deficiencies in the application or provide information as to any exigent circumstances that may delay issuing a license. For nonroutine licenses, the department shall confer with the board to which the licensure application is made and provide an expected timeline to an applicant for issuing a license, including notifying the applicant from that time forward of any deviations from the expected timeline.
(2)standardize policies and procedures and keep in Helena all official records of the boards;
(3)make arrangements and provide facilities in Helena for all meetings, hearings, and examinations of each board or elsewhere in the state if requested by the board;
(4)contract for or administer and grade examinations required by each board;
(5)investigate complaints received by the department of illegal or unethical conduct of a member of the profession or occupation under the jurisdiction of a board or a program within the department;
(6)assess the costs of the department to the boards and programs on an equitable basis as determined by the department;
(7)adopt rules setting administrative fees and expiration, renewal, and termination dates for licenses;
(8)issue a notice to and pursue an action against a licensed individual, as a party, before the licensed individual’s board after a finding of reasonable cause by a screening panel of the board pursuant to 37-1-307(1)(d);
(9)(a) provide notice to the board and to the appropriate legislative interim committee when a board cannot operate in a cost-effective manner;
(b)suspend all duties under this title related to the board except for services related to renewal of licenses;
(c)review the need for a board and make recommendations to the legislative interim committee with monitoring responsibility for the boards for legislation revising the board’s operations to achieve fiscal solvency; and
(d)notwithstanding 2-15-121, recover the costs by one-time charges against all licensees of the board after providing notice and meeting the requirements under the Montana Administrative Procedure Act;
(10)monitor a board’s cash balances to ensure that the balances do not exceed two times the board’s annual appropriation level and adjust fees through administrative rules when necessary. This subsection does not apply to the board of public accountants, except that the department may monitor the board’s cash balances.
(11)establish policies and procedures to set fees for administrative services, as provided in 37-1-134, commensurate with the cost of the services provided. Late penalty fees may be set without being commensurate with the cost of services provided.
(12)adopt uniform rules for all boards and department programs to comply with the public notice requirements of 37-1-311 and 37-1-405. The rules may require the posting of only the licensee’s name and the fact that a hearing is being held when the information is being posted on a publicly available website prior to a decision leading to a suspension or revocation of a license or other final decision of a board or the department.