GA Code § 43-1-3 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 43 - Professions and Businesses|Chapter 1 - General Provisions|§ 43-1-3. Duties of Division Director; Serving Notice or Process on Boards Through Division Director

  It shall be the duty of the division director:   To bring together and keep all records relating to the professional licensing boards;   To receive all applications for licenses;   With the consent of the board concerned, to schedule the time and place for examinations;   To schedule the time and place for all hearings;   To issue certificates upon authority of the professional licensing board concerned; and   Except as otherwise provided by law, to collect all fees required by law in connection with the licensing of trades and professions under such boards and to remit the same to the state treasurer for deposit into the general fund of the state. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the division director is authorized to retain all funds received as collection fees for use in defraying the cost of collection of fees required under this chapter; provided, however, that nothing in this Code section shall be construed so as to allow the division director to retain any funds required by the Constitution of Georgia to be paid into the state treasury; and provided, further, that the division director shall comply with all provisions of Part 1 of Article 4 of Chapter 12 of Title 45, the "Budget Act," except Code Section 45-12-92, prior to expending any such funds.     All orders and processes of the professional licensing boards shall be signed and attested by the division director, or his or her designee, in the name of the particular professional licensing board, with the seal of such board attached. Any notice or legal process necessary to be served upon any of the professional licensing boards may be served upon the division director.    (Ga. L. 1931, p. 7, § 89; Code 1933, § 84-101; Ga. L. 1937, p. 208, § 2; Ga. L. 1967, p. 294, § 1; Ga. L. 1984, p. 22, § 43; Ga. L. 1993, p. 1402, § 18; Ga. L. 1997, p. 677, § 1; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1706, § 3; Ga. L. 2008, p. 1112, § 1/HB 1055; Ga. L. 2010, p. 863, § 3/SB 296.)   Code Commission notes.   - Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2000, "professional licensing" was substituted for "state examining" in the second sentence of subsection (b).   Administrative Rules and Regulations.   - Rules of the profession, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Rules of State Examining Boards, Joint Secretary, Chapter 295-1 et seq.   JUDICIAL DECISIONS   Service on joint-secretary cannot secure individual member's appearance.    - Service upon the joint-secretary of the state examining boards, in reliance upon the provisions of former Code 1933, § 84-101 (see now O.C.G.A. § 43-1-3), was not sufficient to obtain the appearance of the individual members of the Georgia Board of Dentistry since the board is itself a legal entity capable of suing and being sued under former Code 1933, §§ 84-101 and 84-102 (see now O.C.G.A. § 43-11-2). Clark v. Board of Dental Exmrs., 240 Ga. 289, 240 S.E.2d 250 (1977).    Cited in Youmans v. Steele, 217 Ga. 747, 125 S.E.2d 215 (1962); Wall v. American Optometric Ass'n, 379 F. Supp. 175 (N.D. Ga. 1974); Shepard v. Byrd, 581 F. Supp. 1374 (N.D. Ga. 1984).   OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL   Joint-secretary, not board electees, keeps records, receives license applications, and collects fees.    - While a board had authority under former Code 1933, § 84-104 (see now O.C.G.A. § 43-11-3) to elect from the board's members a president and such other officers as the board in the board's discretion may see fit, any application filed with or communication addressed to "such other officer" as the board in the board's discretion has seen fit to elect has no legal status since former Code 1933, § 84-101 (see now O.C.G.A. § 43-1-3) clearly imposed upon the joint-secretary the duty to bring together and keep records relating to the several boards, to receive all applications for licenses, to collect all fees required by law, and to remit the fees to the Fiscal Division of the Department of Administrative Services (now Office of Treasury and Fiscal Services). 1963-65 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 182.   Joint-secretary must remit fees to Department of Administrative Services.   - Fees collected by the Secretary of State (now the joint-secretary) as the Commissioner of Securities must be paid to the Fiscal Division of the Department of Administrative Services (now Office of Treasury and Fiscal Services) and those fees may not be retained as reimbursements for expenses of that office. 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-13.