§ 230. Occupational Safety and Health Review Board

(a) An Occupational Safety and Health Review Board is created. It shall consist of three members who shall be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate. The members of the Board shall be appointed for terms of six years, but initially in a manner so that one term expires in two years, one term in four years, and one term in six years. Thereafter, biennially, in the month of February, with the advice and consent of the Senate, the Governor shall appoint a person as a member of such Board for the term of six years, whose term of office shall commence on March 1 of the year in which such appointment is made. The Governor, biennially, shall designate a member of such Board to be its Chair.

(b) With the approval of the Secretary of Administration, the Board may employ such employees as it deems necessary, and may without such approval employ and remove a clerk and a reporter for taking and transcribing testimony in hearings before it and such hearing judges as it deems necessary to hear appeals on behalf of the Board. Compensation for employees of the Board shall be fixed by the Commissioner of Human Resources. The hearing judge appointed by the Board shall hear, and make a determination upon, any proceeding instituted before the Board and any motion in connection therewith, assigned to such hearing judge by the Chair of the Board, and shall make a report of any such determination which constitutes his or her final disposition of the proceedings. The report of the hearing judge shall become the final order of the Board within 30 days after such report by the hearing examiner, unless within such period any Board member has directed that such report shall be reviewed by the Board.

(c) Every official act of the Board shall be entered on record, and its hearings and records shall be open to the public.

(d) The Board is authorized to make such rules as are necessary for the orderly transaction of its proceedings. Unless the Board has adopted a different rule, its proceedings shall be in accordance with the rules promulgated by the Supreme Court for the Superior Courts.

(e) The office of the Board shall be located in Montpelier, but proceedings shall be held at places within the State convenient to persons appearing before it.

(f) The compensation of members of the Board shall be fixed by the Commissioner of Human Resources.

(g) The Board shall be attached to the Governor's office for administrative purposes. (Added 1971, No. 205 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 1973, No. 193 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 9, 1974; 1973, No. 214 (Adj. Sess.), § 15; 1981, No. 34, § 1; 2003, No. 156 (Adj. Sess.), § 15.)