§ 5-40-10. Continuing education requirements and expiration and renewal of licenses. (a) The certificate of every person licensed under the provisions of this chapter shall expire on the first day of May of the next even year following the date of original licensure. On or before the first day of March of each year, the department shall mail an application for renewal of license to every person to whom a license has been issued or renewed during the current licensure period. Every licensed person who desires to renew his or her license shall provide satisfactory evidence to the department that in the preceding two (2) years the practitioner has completed the twenty-four (24) required continuing education hours as established by the department through rules and regulations and shall file with the department a renewal application executed together with a renewal fee as set forth in § 23-1-54 on or before the thirty-first day of March of each even year. The department may extend for only one six-month (6) period these educational requirements if the department is satisfied that the applicant has suffered hardship that prevented meeting the educational requirement.

(b) Upon receipt of the renewal application, and payment of the renewal fee, the accuracy of the application shall be verified and the department shall grant a renewal license effective the second day of May, and expiring on the first day of May of the next even year.

(c) Any person who allows his or her license to lapse by failing to renew it on or before the thirty-first day of March of the next even year, as provided in this section, may be reinstated by the department on payment of the current renewal fee plus an additional fee as set forth in § 23-1-54.

(d) Any person using the title "physical therapist" or "physical therapist assistant" during the time that his or her license has lapsed is subject to the penalties provided for violations in this chapter.

History of Section. (P.L. 1982, ch. 261, § 2; P.L. 1988, ch. 359, § 1; P.L. 1993, ch. 138, art. 71, § 2; P.L. 2001, ch. 77, art. 14, § 15; P.L. 2007, ch. 27, § 1; P.L. 2007, ch. 40, § 1; P.L. 2007, ch. 73, art. 39, § 13; P.L. 2012, ch. 241, art. 9, § 15.)