(1) The department shall, with the approval of the board, provide, contract, or approve services for the development, preparation, administration, scoring, score reporting, and evaluation of all examinations and may use professional testing services for the development, preparation, and evaluation of examinations, when such services are available. The department may contract with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation for any examination services.

(2) After an examination has been administered, the board may reject any question that does not reliably measure the required competency.

(3) For each examination there shall by rule be specified the general areas of competency to be covered by the examination, the relative weight to be assigned in grading each area tested, the score necessary to achieve a passing grade, and the fees, where applicable, to cover the actual cost for any purchase, development, and administration of the required examination. However, statutory fee caps shall apply. This subsection does not apply to national examinations approved and administered pursuant to subsection (5).

(4) If a practical examination is utilized, rules shall specify the criteria by which examiners are to be selected, the grading criteria to be used by the examiner, the relative weight to be assigned in grading each criterion, and the score necessary to achieve a passing grade. Procedures for practical examinations shall be specified by rule. Board members may serve as examiners at a practical examination with the consent of the board.

(5) The board may approve the use of any national examination. Providers of examinations may be either profit or nonprofit entities. The name and number of a candidate may be provided to a national contractor for the limited purpose of preparing the grade tape and information to be returned to the department or, to the extent otherwise specified by rule, the candidate may apply directly to the vendor of the national examination. The department may delegate to the board the duty to provide and administer the examination.

(6) Rules may be adopted establishing procedures and requirements for the security and monitoring of examinations. In order to maintain the security of examinations, the department may seek fines and injunctive relief in the courts of this state against an examinee who violates applicable security rules. The department, or any agent thereof, may, for the purposes of investigation, confiscate any written, photographic, or recording material or device in the possession of the examinee at the examination site which the department deems necessary to enforce the security of examinations.

(7) The department may, with the approval of the board and for a fee, share with any other state’s licensing authority an examination developed by or for the board unless prohibited by a contract entered into by the department for development or purchase of the examination. The department shall establish guidelines that ensure security of a shared examination and shall require that any other state’s licensing authority comply with those guidelines.

(8) If both a written and a practical examination are given, an applicant shall be required to retake only the portion of the examination for which she or he failed to achieve a passing grade, if she or he successfully passes that portion within a reasonable time of her or his passing the other portion. Rules may be adopted establishing procedures and reasonable times for retaking failed portions of any examination.

(9) Except for national examinations approved and administered pursuant to this section, procedures shall be established by rule for applicants who have taken and failed a written examination to review their examination questions, answers, papers, grades, and grading key for the questions the candidate answered incorrectly or, if not feasible, the parts of the examination failed. Applicants shall bear the actual cost for the department to provide examination review pursuant to this subsection. An applicant may waive in writing the confidentiality of her or his examination grades. Rules may be adopted establishing procedures for such reviews.

(10) For each examination administered under this chapter, an accurate record of each applicant’s examination questions, answers, papers, grades, and grading key shall be kept for a period of not less than 2 years immediately following the examination, and such record shall thereafter be maintained or destroyed as provided in chapters 119 and 257. This subsection does not apply to national examinations approved and administered pursuant to this section.

(11) In addition to meeting any other requirements for licensure by examination or by endorsement, an applicant may be required by the board to pass an examination pertaining to state laws and rules applicable to the practice of the profession regulated under this chapter.

(12) Examinations and reexaminations for any license under this chapter shall be administered in the English language unless 15 or more applicants request that the examination or reexamination be administered in their native language. Such requests must be received at least 6 months prior to the examination or reexamination. In the event that such examination or reexamination is administered in a foreign language, the full cost to the board and department of preparing and administering the examination shall be borne by the applicants. Where the taking of a national examination is required by this chapter or rule adopted under this chapter, the examination may not be required to be given in any language other than English unless the national examination is available in the requested language. Rules may be adopted establishing procedures for requesting examinations in languages other than English and establishing the costs related to such examinations.

(13) When any licensed applicant under this chapter requests a hearing to challenge a decision that the applicant’s answer to any licensure test question was not a correct answer, or to seek a determination that a challenged question should be stricken, unless the applicant notifies the department at least 5 days prior to the examination hearing of the applicant’s inability to attend or unless the applicant can demonstrate an extreme emergency for failing to attend, the department may require the applicant who fails to attend to pay reasonable attorney’s fees, costs, and court costs of the department for the examination hearing.

History.—s. 14, ch. 2004-301; s. 9, ch. 2005-155.