SB226 Alabama 2012 Session

Summary

Primary Sponsor

J.T. WaggonerSenator

Republican

Session

Regular Session 2012

Title

Board of Physical Therapy, impaired professional wellness committee and program created; executive director appointment, licensing in lieu of registration of physical therapists assistants, Secs. 34-24-191, 34-24-193, 34-24-194, 34-24-195, 34-24-210, 34-24-211, 34-24-212, 34-24-213, 34-24-217 am'd

Summary

SB226 updates Alabama's Physical Therapy laws by creating an impaired practitioner program, updating terminology from registered to licensed, clarifying definitions, and expanding disciplinary and fee authorities for the Board of Physical Therapy.

What This Bill Does

It creates the Alabama Physical Therapy Wellness Committee to identify, treat, and monitor impaired licensees, with confidentiality and immunity protections and annual reporting to the board. It updates terminology to reflect licensed physical therapists and licensed physical therapist assistants, clarifies definitions (including foreign educated), and shifts some duties to an executive director with board-set compensation. It strengthens licensing processes and disciplinary powers, including allowing license restrictions and new fees from continuing education providers, and it establishes credential evaluation for foreign-educated therapists. It outlines specific grounds for license denial, suspension, or restriction and sets rules for complaint handling and investigations.

Who It Affects

• Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants licensed in Alabama will be subject to the impaired practitioner program, license restrictions, and new governance/credential rules.
• Foreign-educated physical therapists planning to practice in Alabama and continuing education providers will face credential evaluation rules, terminology changes, and new fee collection provisions.

Key Provisions

• Creates the impaired practitioner program and the Alabama Physical Therapy Wellness Committee to identify, treat, monitor, and rehabilitate impaired licensees; includes confidentiality, immunity, annual reporting, and potential board-directed evaluations.
• Updates terminology: replaces references to 'registered' with 'licensed' for physical therapists, clarifies definitions for physical therapist assistant and physical therapy aide/technician, and changes 'foreign trained' to 'foreign educated'.
• Transfers certain duties from the board secretary to an executive director and allows the board to set the executive director's compensation; board authorized to hire the executive director.
• Authorizes the board to place restrictions on licenses as part of disciplinary actions; allows administrative fines up to $1,000 per violation.
• authorizes the board to collect fees from continuing education providers and to maintain funding in the Physical Therapist Fund; allows certification of good standing fees.
• Requires foreign-educated physical therapists to have credentials evaluated by a recognized agency; board determines equivalency and then follows standard application process; examinations required for PT and PTA licensing.
• Enumerates grounds for license denial, suspension, or restriction (including improper practice, drug use, felony or moral turpitude conviction, fraud, gross negligence, mental incompetence, conduct unbecoming, narcotics violations, advertising unethical, or failure to obey orders), with a doctrine allowing certain physician relationships not to be deemed misconduct under specific conditions.
• Effective date set for the first day of the third month after passage/approval.

AI-generated summary using openai/gpt-5-nano on Feb 25, 2026. May contain errors — refer to the official bill text for accuracy.

Subjects

Physical Therapy, Board of