28 September 2009

Pursuant to a notice published in the Virginia Register on August 31, 2009 that provided notice to the public of the Department of Professional and Occupation Regulation's intent to amend certain regulations, specifically 18VAC25-21, a request for adoption by DPOR and the Auctioneer Board of a regulatory Virginia Administrative Code section granting an exemption for the reinstatement of auctioneer licenses applicable to reserve military personnel who are involuntarily called to active duty in the armed forces of the United States is hereby submitted for consideration.

Why this regulation is needed?

Current DPOR Auctioneer Board regulations place major obstacles that potentially block the ability of reserve military personnel who have been involuntarily called to active duty to meet the requirements for renewal, i.e., obtaining continuing education, bond procurement and filing, et cetera. In many instances the affected personnel lack monetary funds for license renewal and or even the purchase of the required bond to obtain renewal as the result of the lower pay amounts associated with the majority of military rank. A reservist involuntarily called to active military duty with a professional license as an auctioneer is in many instances forced to forfeit by expiration their license as the result of serving as a member of the armed forces in service of this country and being unable to meet the license renewal requirements.

The history of the last eight years have provided unequivocal evidence that reserve units across the United States have been activated to active duty multiple times to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan for extended periods exceeding one or more years. A change to the current auctioneer regulations is needed to correct an injustice to those military personnel serving and concurrently holding Virginia Auctioneer licenses.

How might such an exemption be framed to accomplish the desired purpose with minimal disturbance of existing administrative policies of the Auctioneer Board?

[Author's note: I have taken the liberty as the author of the below suggested draft of a military exemption by assigning a non-existent 18 VAC 25-21-95 section to the language that follows. The framed language that follows is provided only as an example of how the exemption might be constructed to accomplish its suggested purpose.]

Beginning of example language*******

18 VAC 25-21-95. INVOLUNTARY MILITARY SERVICE EXEMPTION.

A. Notwithstanding 18 VAC 25-21-90, reserve military personnel involuntarily called to active duty in the armed forces of the United States who while serving their country on active duty fail to renew their license shall be eligible for an automatic license reinstatement within twelve months of their separation occurring under honorable conditions from active duty and upon filing with the Board the following:

     1.  an application for license reinstatement;

2. paying the current license renewal fee;
   

3. providing a bond as required by 18 VAC 25-21-30 for the license period that they would be in had they continuously renewed their license for each two year license period following their license lapse;
   

4. completing the continuing education requirement for license renewal in effect at the time the application for reinstatement is made, and;

5. establishing their eligibility for automatic license reinstatement by furnishing the Board with a copy of their separation document from the Armed Forces verifying their most recent dates of service with separation under honorable conditions from active military service.
   

B. Upon satisfactory completion of the above requirements the Board shall authorize the reinstatement of the applicant's license with an expiration date that would be the two year license expiration date of the applicant's original license had they continuously renewed their license for each two year license period following their license lapse. The license record shall be updated to reflect the lapsed period as attributable to an Involuntary Military Service Exemption.

C. This Involuntary Military Service Exemption shall not be available after a license has been expired beyond six continuous years.

End of example language*******

Respectfully submitted to DPOR and the Virginia Auctioneer Board for consideration,

Frank W. MaGann, President

VCPM Auctions LLC - VAF 2908000679

1940 Belleville Rd SW

Roanoke, Virginia 24015

540-520-7747