(1) The Board of Hearing Aid Specialists is created within the Department of Health and shall consist of nine members to be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate.

(2) Five members of the board shall be hearing aid specialists who have been licensed and practicing in this state for at least the preceding 4 years. The remaining four members, none of whom shall derive economic benefit from the fitting or dispensing of hearing aids, shall be appointed from the resident lay public of this state. One of the lay members shall be a hearing aid user but may neither be nor have been a hearing aid specialist or a licensee of a closely related profession. One lay member shall be an individual age 65 or over. One lay member shall be an otolaryngologist licensed pursuant to chapter 458 or chapter 459.

(3) Members of the board shall be appointed for terms of 4 years each.

(4) All provisions of chapter 456 relating to activities of regulatory boards apply to the board. However, notwithstanding the requirement of s. 456.073(4) that the board provide by rule for the determination of probable cause by a panel composed of its members or by the department, the board may provide by rule that its probable cause panel may be composed of one current member of the board and one past member of the board, as long as the past member is a licensed hearing aid specialist in good standing. The past board member shall be appointed to the panel for a maximum of 2 years by the chair of the board with the approval of the State Surgeon General.

History.—ss. 3, 18, ch. 83-153; ss. 1, 7, ch. 84-94; s. 82, ch. 85-81; ss. 3, 19, 20, ch. 86-283; s. 25, ch. 90-134; s. 22, ch. 90-341; ss. 5, 11, ch. 90-345; s. 27, ch. 91-137; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 49, ch. 92-149; s. 333, ch. 94-119; s. 6, ch. 94-160; s. 180, ch. 94-218; s. 451, ch. 97-103; s. 173, ch. 97-264; s. 141, ch. 98-166; s. 199, ch. 2000-160; s. 99, ch. 2008-6.