§16-5J-10. Licensure of technicians; fee; rules and regulations.

(a) The director of the department of health shall promulgate rules and regulations for the licensure and certification of lab technicians and lab technologists. All such persons being so employed on the effective date of this article shall be automatically certified and exempt from this requirement: Provided, That any technologist and technician who is certified by the American medical technologists or the American society of clinical pathologists or the national certification agency for medical laboratory personnel or any federal certification program shall be considered certified.

(b) All laboratory technicians or technologists shall pay an annual license fee of $25 to the director of the department of health to cover the costs of licensure.

(c) All rules and regulations required under this section or other provisions of this article may not be filed as emergency rules until after the set of rules is approved by the Legislature.

(d) All fees and interest earned or collected by the department under this article shall be used to pay for the implementation of this article.