§ 1395a. Licenses; rules

(a) Licenses. The Department shall issue licenses under this subchapter. A licensee may be authorized to perform more than one class of activities under a single license. The Department shall, by rule, establish appropriate application, testing, and renewal procedures for each class of activity under a license. The rule shall include the opportunity for an applicant to take the licensing test orally or by demonstration if the applicant fails the written test. The classes of activities under a license shall be as follows:

(1) Water well driller. This class shall consist of any person engaged in the business of constructing wells for the purpose of locating, extracting, or recharging groundwater, or for the purpose of transferring heat to or from the earth’s subsurface.

(2) Monitoring well driller. This class shall consist of any person engaged in the business of constructing, servicing, or closing wells drilled for the purpose of monitoring groundwater quantity or quality.

(3), (4) [Repealed.]

(b) Criminal background; pre-application determination. The Department shall provide a pre-application determination of an individual’s criminal background. This determination shall not be binding on the Department in a future application if the individual violates probation or parole or is convicted of another crime following the determination.

(1) The Department shall initiate this determination upon an individual’s “second chance” determination request. This request shall provide documentation related to the individual’s conviction or convictions and evidence of rehabilitation.

(2) The individual shall submit this request online, accompanied by a pre-application fee of $25.00. If the individual thereafter applies for licensure, this pre-application fee shall be deducted from that license application fee.

(3) The Department shall:

(A) process a request within 30 days of receiving a complete request;

(B) assess the nature of the underlying conviction or convictions, the nexus to the well-drilling profession, and the provided evidence of rehabilitation; and

(C) respond to the individual’s request in writing.

(c) Continuing education; sunset review.

(1) Not less than once every five years, the Department shall review its continuing education or other continuing competency requirements for well drillers. The review results shall be in writing and address the following:

(A) the renewal requirements of the profession;

(B) the renewal requirements in other jurisdictions, particularly in the Northeast region;

(C) the cost of the renewal requirements for the profession’s licensees;

(D) an analysis of the utility and effectiveness of the renewal requirements with respect to public protection; and

(E) recommendations to the Secretary on whether the continuing education or other continuing competency requirements should be modified.

(2) The Secretary shall respond to the Department within 45 days of its submitted review results. The Secretary may require the Department to reduce, modify, or otherwise change the renewal requirements, including by proposing any necessary amendments to statute or rule.

(d) Military credentials. The Department may evaluate specific military credentials to determine equivalency to credentials for well drillers. The determinations shall be adopted through written policy that shall be posted on the Department’s website.

(e) Uniform process for endorsement from other states.

(1) The Department shall issue licenses for well drillers who have been licensed in good standing in another jurisdiction within the United States for at least three years, regardless of whether that jurisdiction has licensing requirements substantially similar to those of this State.

(2) If the Department determines that three years of demonstrated practice in another specific jurisdiction is not adequately protective of the public, it shall provide its rationale to the Secretary, who may propose any necessary statutory or rule amendments in order to implement more restrictive requirements for endorsement for that jurisdiction.

(3) The Secretary may issue to an endorsement applicant a waiver of the practice requirement if there is a showing that the waiver follows State policy and the public is adequately protected.

(f) Uniform process for foreign credential verification.

(1) The Secretary shall adopt rules in consultation with the Department that prescribe a process for the Secretary to assess the equivalence of an applicant’s professional credentials earned outside the United States as compared to State licensing requirements for well drillers.

(2) Any determination of equivalence by the Secretary under this section shall be in consultation with the Department, recorded in the applicant’s licensing file, and binding upon the Department.

(3) In administering this section, the Secretary may rely upon third-party credential verification services. The cost of such services shall be paid by the applicant.

(g) Rules.

(1) The Department may adopt rules to implement the provisions of this subchapter and to establish well construction standards for persons engaged in the business of well construction.

(2)(A) Rules relating to licensing standards shall be fair and reasonable and shall be designed and implemented to ensure that all applicants are granted licensure if they demonstrate that they possess the minimal occupational qualifications necessary for the purposes of groundwater protection. They shall not be designed or implemented for the purpose of limiting the number of licensees.

(B) All other rules to implement the provisions of this subchapter shall be rationally related to the purposes of this chapter, and shall be designed to achieve a reasonable balance between the expected governmental, societal, and occupational costs and the expected benefits. (Added 1989, No. 201 (Adj. Sess.), § 3; amended 1995, No. 103 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 2001, No. 65, § 29; 2019, No. 152 (Adj. Sess.), § 5, eff. April 1, 2021.)