(1) There is hereby created a state board of addiction counselor examiners under the supervision and control of the division. Once the governor appoints the board members and the board adopts necessary rules, the board is responsible for regulating addiction counselors pursuant to this part 8 and this article 245.
(2) The board consists of seven members who are residents of the state of Colorado. The governor shall appoint the members of the board as follows:
(a) (I) Four board members must be licensed or certified addiction counselors, and except as provided in subsection (2)(a)(II) of this section, at least two of these four members must be engaged in the direct practice of addiction counseling. The four board members appointed pursuant to this subsection (2)(a) must include at least one licensed addiction counselor and at least one certified addiction counselor.
(II) If, after a good-faith attempt, the governor determines that a licensed or certified addiction counselor who is engaged in the direct practice of addiction counseling is not available to serve on the board for a particular term, the governor may appoint a licensed or certified addiction counselor who is not engaged in the direct practice of addiction counseling to serve on the board pursuant to this subsection (2)(a).
(b) Three board members must be representatives of the general public, one of whom may be an addiction counseling consumer or family member of an addiction counseling consumer. These individuals must have never been addiction counselors, applicants, or former applicants for licensure or certification as an addiction counselor, members of another mental health profession, members of households that include addiction counselors or any other mental health professional, or otherwise have conflicts of interest or the appearance of a conflict with their duties as board members.
(3) (a) Each board member shall hold office until the expiration of the member's appointed term or until a successor is duly appointed. Except as specified in subsection (3)(b) of this section, the term of each member is four years, and a board member shall not serve more than two full consecutive terms. The governor shall fill a vacancy occurring in board membership, other than by expiration of a term, by appointment for the unexpired term of the member.
(b) The initial terms of office of the members appointed to the board as of January 1, 2012, are modified as follows in order to ensure staggered terms of office:
The initial term of office of one of the board members representing the general public, whose initial term would otherwise expire on December 31, 2015, expires on December 31, 2013, and this board member is eligible to serve one additional four-year term commencing on January 1, 2014, and expiring on December 31, 2017. On and after the expiration of the board member's term, the term of a person appointed to this member's position on the board is as described in subsection (3)(a) of this section commencing on January 1 of the applicable year.
The initial terms of office of two of the licensed or certified addiction counselorboard members, whose initial terms would otherwise expire on December 31, 2015, expire on December 31, 2013. These board members are eligible to serve one additional four-year term, commencing on January 1, 2014, and expiring on December 31, 2017. On and after the expiration of these board members' terms, the terms of persons appointed to the members' positions on the board are as described in subsection (3)(a) of this section commencing on January 1 of the applicable year.
(4) The governor may remove any board member for misconduct, incompetence, or neglect of duty. Actions constituting neglect of duty include the failure of board members to attend three consecutive meetings or at least three-fourths of the total meetings in any calendar year.
Source: L. 2019: Entire title R&RE with relocations, (HB 19-1172), ch. 136, p. 1291, § 1, effective October 1. L. 2020: IP(2) amended, (HB 20-1206), ch. 304, p. 1539, § 36, effective July 14.
Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 12-43-802 as it existed prior to 2019.