(a) Notwithstanding any contrary law, except title 55, chapter 17, the director has the power, duty and responsibility to:

(1) Act as chief administrative officer for each board;

(2) Employ all consultants, investigators, inspectors, legal counsel, and other personnel necessary to staff and carry out the functions of the boards, and assign the personnel in a manner designed to ensure their most efficient use, excluding the board of pharmacy and the state board for licensing contractors;

(3) Provide office space and necessary quarters for the boards;

(4) Maintain a central filing system for official records and documents of all boards;

(5) Promulgate rules and regulations for all administrative functions and activities of the boards;

(6) Enforce all regulations promulgated by the boards;

(7) Collect and account for all fees prescribed to be paid to each board, and, unless otherwise prescribed by law, deposit the fees in the state treasury, and the commissioner of finance and administration shall make allotments out of the general fund as may be necessary to defray the expenses of the division and boards as provided by law;

(8) Perform other duties the commissioner prescribes, or as prescribed by law;

(9)

(A) Issue monthly a press release containing a disciplinary report, which shall list all disciplinary actions taken by each board during the prior month. The report shall list, by board, the following:

(i) Name and professional address of any person disciplined the prior month;

(ii) Disciplinary action taken; and

(iii) Any civil penalty imposed; and

(B) The disciplinary report for the prior month shall be made available to newspapers of general circulation in each of the state's metropolitan areas, Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga and the tri-cities area composed of Bristol, Johnson City and Kingsport, by the fifteenth of each following month.

(b)

(1)

(A) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the director shall establish an alternative system of renewals of licenses issued by any regulatory board attached to the division of regulatory boards of the department under § 4-3-1304. The system shall be designed to allow for the distribution of the renewal workload as uniformly as is practicable throughout the calendar year.

(B) Licenses issued under the alternative method are valid for twenty-four (24) months, and shall expire on the last day of the last month of the license period; however, during a transition period or at any time thereafter, if the director, after consultation with the affected board or boards, determines that the volume of work for any given interval is unduly burdensome or costly, either the licenses or renewals, or both of them, may be issued for terms of not less than six (6) months nor more than eighteen (18) months. The fee imposed for any license under the alternative interval method for a period other than twenty-four (24) months shall be proportionate to the annual fee and modified in no other manner, except that the proportional fee shall be rounded off to the nearest quarter of a dollar (25¢).

(2) As used in subdivision (b)(1), “license” is defined as in § 4-5-102.

(c) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the director of the division of regulatory boards of the department may implement a system for electronic submission of complaints or applications for licensure or registration to any regulatory program attached to the division, including any renewal thereof, and to notify licensees electronically of renewals, rulemaking or any other notification.