General Organization

PURPOSE: This regulation complies with section 536.023(3), RSMo, which requires each agency to adopt as a regulation a description of its operation and the methods and procedures where the public may obtain information or make submissions or requests. (1) The Division of Professional Registration is an agency of the Department of Commerce and Insurance. (2) The division was created in 1974 by Senate Bill 1 passed by the First Extraordinary Session of the 77th General Assembly. (3) The division is headed by a director appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate. (4) Boards, commissions, committees, councils, and offices assigned to the division are— (A) Missouri State Board of Accountancy; (B) Missouri Acupuncturist Advisory Committee; (C) Advisory Commission for Anesthesiologist Assistants; (D) Missouri Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Professional Land Surveyors and Professional Landscape Architects; (E) Missouri Athletic Trainer Advisory Committee; (F) Office of Athlete Agents; (G) Office of Athletics; (H) Behavior Analyst Advisory Board; (I) Missouri State Board of Chiropractic Examiners; (J) State Board of Cosmetology and Barber Examiners; (K) Committee for Professional Counselors; (L) Missouri Dental Board; (M) Advisory Commission for Dental Hygienists; (N) State Committee of Dietitians; (O) Office of Statewide Electrical Contractors; (P) State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors; (Q) Office of Endowed Care Cemeteries; (R) Board of Geologist Registration; (S) State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts; (T) Missouri Board of Examiners for Hearing Instrument Specialists; (U) Interior Design Council; (V) Missouri State Committee of Interpreters; (W) State Committee for Marital and Family Therapists; (X) Board of Therapeutic Massage; (Y) Missouri State Board of Nursing; (Z) Missouri Board of Occupational Therapy; (AA) State Board of Optometry; (BB) Advisory Commission for Clinical Perfusionists; (CC) Missouri Board of Pharmacy; (DD) Advisory Commission for Physical Therapists; (EE) Advisory Commission for Physician Assistants; (FF) State Board of Podiatric Medicine; (GG) Board of Private Investigator and Private Fire Investigator Examiners; (HH) State Committee of Psychologists; (II) Missouri Real Estate Appraisers Commission; (JJ) Missouri Real Estate Commission; (KK) Missouri Board for Respiratory Care; (LL) State Committee for Social Workers; (MM) Advisory Commission for Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists; (NN) Office of Tattooing, Body Piercing, and Branding; and (OO) Missouri Veterinary Medical Board. (5) The primary duties of the division consist of the following: (A) Establishing renewal dates for licenses or certificates of the boards, commissions, committees, and other licensing agencies assigned to the division; (B) Providing clerical, other staff services, and financial management relating to the issuance and renewal of licenses for all boards, commissions, committees, and other licensing agencies assigned to the division; (C) Establishing a system of accounting and budgeting, in cooperation with the director of the department, the Office of Administration, and the state auditor’s office, to ensure proper charges are made to the various boards for services rendered to them; (D) Collecting and accounting for all monies received by the division and its component agencies, and transmitting monies to the Department of Revenue; (E) Providing each board, commission, or committee with all relevant financial information in a timely fashion; (F) Reviewing the expense vouchers of each board, commission, or committee and submitting the results to the board, commission, or committee reviewed and to the house and senate appropriations committees annually; (G) Maintaining for each board, commission, committee, or other licensing agency of the division a registry of each person holding a current license, permit, or certificate issued by that licensing agency; (H) Operating a central investigative unit; (I) Coordinating and supporting the use of optical imaging and other processes to preserve the records of the boards, commissions, and committees; (J) Allocating and assigning facility space, personnel other than board personnel, and equipment; and (K) Maintaining the central personnel records of the division and each of the boards, commissions, committees, councils, and offices. (6) Process may be served on the division by delivering it to either the director of the division or any member of the senior staff within the director’s office. (7) The director’s personnel officer is designated as the division’s custodian of records. (8) The following records are closed under the Sunshine Law (Chapter 610, RSMo): (A) Legal actions, causes of action, or litigation involving a public governmental body (section 610.021(1), RSMo); (B) Leasing, purchase, or sale of real estate by a public governmental body where public knowledge of the transaction might adversely affect the legal consideration therefore (section 610.021(2), RSMo); (C) Hiring, firing, disciplining, or promoting of particular employees by a public governmental body when personal information about the employee is discussed or recorded (section 610.021(3), RSMo); (D) Nonjudicial mental or physical health proceedings involving identifiable persons, including medical, psychiatric, psychological, or alcoholism or drug dependency diagnosis or treatment (section 610.021(5), RSMo); (E) The use of testing and examination materials, before the REGISTRATION AND INSURANCE test or examination is given or, if it is to be given again, before so given again (section 610.021(7), RSMo); (F) Preparation, including any discussions or work product, on behalf of a public governmental body or its representatives for negotiations with employee groups (section 610.021(9), RSMo); (G) The use of software codes for electronic data processing and documentation thereof (section 610.021(10), RSMo); (H) Specifications for competitive bidding, until either the specifications are officially approved by the public governmental body or the specifications are published for bid (section 610.021(11), RSMo); (I) Sealed bids and related documents, until the bids are opened, and sealed proposals and related documents or any documents related to a negotiated contract until a contract is executed, or all proposals are rejected (section 610.021(12), RSMo); (J) The maintenance of individually identifiable personnel records, performance ratings, or records pertaining to employees or applicants for employment, except that this exemption shall not apply to the names, positions, salaries, and lengths of service of officers and employees of public agencies once they are employed as such (section 610.021(13), RSMo); (K) Records which are protected from disclosure by law (section 610.021(14), RSMo); (L) Meetings and public records relating to scientific and technological innovations in which the owner has a proprietary interest (section 610.021(15), RSMo); (M) Confidential or privileged communications between a public governmental body and its auditor, including all auditor work product; however, all final audit reports issued by the auditor are to be considered open records (section 610.021(17), RSMo); (N) Existing or proposed security systems and structural plans of real property owned or leased by a public governmental body, the public disclosure of which would threaten public safety, except that records related to the procurement of or expenditures relating to security systems purchased with public funds shall be open; such disclosure would impair the public governmental body’s ability to protect the security or safety of persons or real property, and the public interest in nondisclosure outweighs the public interest in disclosure of the records (section 610.021(19), RSMo); (O) Records that identify the configuration of components or the operation of a computer, computer system, computer network, or telecommunications network, and would allow unauthorized access to or unlawful disruption of a computer, computer system, computer network, or telecommunications network of a public governmental body, however, this exception shall not be used to limit or deny access to otherwise public records in a file, document, data file, or database containing public records and records related to the procurement of or expenditures relating to such computer, computer system, computer network, or telecommunications network, including the amount of moneys paid by, or on behalf of, a public governmental body for such computer, computer system, computer network, or telecommunications network (section 610.021(20), RSMo); and (P) Credit card numbers, personal identification numbers, digital certificates, physical and virtual keys, access codes, or authorization codes that are used to protect the security of electronic transactions between a public governmental body and a person or entity doing business with a public governmental body, however, nothing in this section shall be deemed to close the record of a person or entity using a credit card held in the name of a public governmental body or any record of a transaction made by a person using a credit card or other method of payment for which reimbursement is made by a public governmental body (section 610.021(21), RSMo). (9) Any person may contact the Division of Professional Registration, 3605 Missouri Blvd., PO Box 1335, Jefferson City, MO 65102-1335, telephone number (573) 751-0293, or via the division’s website at http://pr.mo.gov for information. AUTHORITY: section 536.023(3), RSMo 2016.* This rule originally filed as 4 CSR 231-1.010. Original rule filed Feb. 9, 1982, effective May 13, 1982. Amended: Filed Jan. 5, 1989, effective April 13, 1989. Moved to 20 CSR 2231-1.010, effective Aug. 28, 2006. Rescinded and readopted: Filed Dec. 7, 2007, effective June 30, 2008. Amended: Filed July 26, 2012, effective Jan. 30, 2013. Amended: Filed Jan. 10, 2019, effective July 30, 2019. Non-substantive change filed July 30, 2019, published Sept. 30, 2019. Amended: Filed May 4, 2022, effective Nov. 30, 2022. *Original authority: 536.023, RSMo 1975, amended 1976, 1997, 2004.