BEFORE THE BOARD OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE

                                        PATHOLOGISTS AND AUDIOLOGISTS

                                   DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND INDUSTRY

                                                       STATE OF MONTANA

 

In the matter of the amendment of ARM  24.222.301 definitions, 24.222.401  fees, 24.222.2301 unprofessional   conduct, and the adoption of NEW  RULE I limited licenses and NEW RULE  II supervised professional experience

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NOTICE OF AMENDMENT AND ADOPTION

 

TO: All Concerned Persons

 

            1. On September 8, 2017, the Board of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (board) published MAR Notice No. 24-222-27 regarding the public hearing on the proposed amendment and adoption of the above-stated rules, at page 1479 of the 2017 Montana Administrative Register, Issue No. 17.

 

            2. On October 4, 2017, a public hearing was held on the proposed amendment and adoption of the above-stated rules in Helena. One comment was received by the October 6, 2017, deadline.

 

            3. The board has thoroughly considered the comment received. A summary of the comment and the board response is as follows:

 

COMMENT 1: One commenter suggested the board amend (3) of NEW RULE I by striking language allowing education from programs accredited by entities deemed equivalent to the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology of American Speech-Language Hearing Association (Council). The commenter stated that it is unknown what these equivalent entities would be, or who would decide whether an entity is equivalent.

 

RESPONSE 1: The board notes that allowing for equivalent entities will ensure the high accreditation standards of the Council are always met without having to amend the rule to add every new entity. Additionally, the board will determine if other accreditation bodies are equivalent to the Council. The board is adopting NEW RULE I exactly as proposed.

 

            4. The board has amended ARM 24.222.401 and 24.222.2301 exactly as proposed.

 

            5. The board has adopted NEW RULES I (24.222.508) and II (24.222.509) exactly as proposed.

 

            6. While preparing the replacement pages for ARM 24.222.301, it was discovered that the definitions were no longer in alphabetical order as is the formatting requirement of the Secretary of State. To fix this clerical error and reorder the definitions, ARM 24.222.301 is amended as proposed, but with the following changes to the original proposal:

 

            24.222.301 DEFINITIONS (1) and (2) remain as proposed.

            (3) remains as proposed but is renumbered (4).

            (4) remains as proposed but is renumbered (3).

            (5) remains as proposed.

 

	BOARD OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGISTS AND AUDIOLOGISTS LUCY HART PAULSON, Ed.D., CCC-SLP CHAIRPERSON
/s/ DARCEE L. MOE Darcee L. Moe Rule Reviewer	/s/ GALEN HOLLENBAUGH Galen Hollenbaugh, Commissioner DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND INDUSTRY

 

            Certified to the Secretary of State October 30, 2017.