Section 43-18-54. Refusal to grant apprenticeship registration; grounds for suspension, revocation, limitation of, or refusal to renew registration; reregistration

   (a) Refusal to grant an apprenticeship registration shall not be deemed to be a contested case under Chapter 13 of Title 50, the "Georgia Administrative Procedure Act."

(b) The board shall be authorized to suspend, revoke, limit, or refuse to renew a registration of apprenticeship, after notice and hearing pursuant to Chapter 13 of Title 50, the "Georgia Administrative Procedure Act," upon a finding by a majority of the board of any of the following:

   (1) Engaging in any unprofessional, immoral, unethical, deceptive, or deleterious conduct or practice harmful to the public, which conduct or practice materially affects the fitness of the apprentice to practice in the funeral business, or is of a nature likely to jeopardize the interest of the public, which conduct or practice need not have resulted in actual injury to any person or be directly related to the practice of funeral directing or embalming but shows that the apprentice has committed any act or omission which is indicative of bad moral character or untrustworthiness; unprofessional conduct shall also include any departure from, or failure to conform to, the minimal reasonable standards of acceptable and prevailing practice of funeral services;

   (2) Being on duty as an apprentice while under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs;

   (3) Being unable to practice with reasonable skill and safety to the public by reason of a physical or mental condition;

   (4) Being convicted of a felony or of any crime involving moral turpitude in the courts of this state or any other state, territory, or country, or in the courts of the United States, regardless of whether first offender treatment without an adjudication of guilt was given or whether an adjudication of guilty or sentence was otherwise withheld or not entered on the charge. As used in this paragraph, the term "conviction" shall include a finding or verdict of guilt or plea of guilty or probation relating to first time offenders; and "felony" shall include any offense which, if committed in this state, would be deemed a felony;

   (5) Disobeying proper orders or instructions of that apprentice's supervising embalmer, funeral director, or both;

   (6) Violating any provision of this article or rule or regulation of the board made pursuant to this article; or

   (7) Practicing fraud or misrepresentation in obtaining a certificate of registration as an apprentice or knowingly making misleading, deceptive, untrue, or fraudulent representations in the practice of funeral service or on any document connected therewith while registered as an apprentice.

(c) An apprentice who has failed to renew that person's registration or who has had that person's registration suspended or revoked may, within one year after such expiration, suspension, or revocation, make application for registration but no more than two such applications may be approved by the board. An applicant for reregistration whose previous apprenticeship was revoked for failure to renew may be granted full credit for the time previously served prior to expiration. An applicant for reregistration whose previous apprenticeship was suspended or revoked upon any of the grounds set forth in subsection (b) of this Code section, however, may be granted credit for no more than 75 percent of the time previously served prior to the disciplinary action. In all other cases regarding applicants for reregistration, the board may, when the circumstances warrant, allow an apprentice credit under a reregistration for time actually served under a previous registration.

Code 1981, § 43-18-54, enacted by Ga. L. 1990, p. 1372, § 1; Ga. L. 1992, p. 2762, § 4.