Number 18 August 1, 1975

Number 18 August 1, 1975 Ms. Evvajean Mintz Director of Registration Leverett Saltonstall Building 100 Cambridge Street Boston, Massachusetts 02202 Dear Ms. Mintz: You have asked whether various sections in G. L. c. 112, which require applicants to certain boards of registration either to be citizens and/or declare an intention to become citizens, should be enforced in light of the Attorney General's Opinion of June 6, 1975, which concluded that a similar provision regarding pharmacists was unconstitutional. I have examined the language in the sections you have cited: G. L. c. 112 § 45 (dental); § 73E (dispensing opticians); § 83 (embalming); § 87A (public P.D. 12 91 accountants); § 87NN (sanitarians); § 87TT (real estate); § 87GGG (elec- trologists); § 101 (landscape architects); and § 109 (nursing home administra- tors). While there are some minor differences in language, all sections, except for § 87NN, prohibit a non-citizen from being licensed. Those sec- tions of c. 1 12 are, therefore, unconstitutionally defective and should not be enforced with respect to the requirement of citizenship. Section 87NN makes no mention of any citizenship requirement, but permits the Board of Regis- tration of Sanitarians to adopt rules and regulations establishing the mini- mum qualifications which applicants must possess. If any such rules and regulations exclude non-citizens they are similarly unconstitutional. Very truly yours, FRANCIS X. BELLOTTI Attorney General