§34-24-160. Application; qualifications of applicant; fee.

(a) Any person wishing the right to practice chiropractic shall make application to the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners in the form as the board may prescribe.

(b) In addition to other requirements established by law and for the purpose of determining an applicant's suitability for a license to practice chiropractic, each applicant shall submit a complete set of fingerprints to the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners. The board shall submit the fingerprints provided by each applicant for a license to practice chiropractic to the Alabama Bureau of Investigation (ABI). The fingerprints shall be forwarded by the ABI to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for a national criminal history record check. Costs associated with conducting a criminal history background check shall be borne by the applicant. The State Board of Chiropractic Examiners shall keep information received pursuant to this section confidential, except that such information received and relied upon in denying the issuance of a license to practice chiropractic in this state may be disclosed as may be necessary to support the denial. This requirement also shall apply to any person who is not licensed as a chiropractor who applies for a permit pursuant to Section 34-24-123(b).

(c) Each applicant shall be of good moral character, a citizen of the United States or, if not a citizen of the United States, a person who is legally present in the United States with appropriate documentation from the federal government.

(d) Each applicant shall be a graduate of a chartered chiropractic school or college accredited by the council of chiropractic education which teaches only attendance courses and requires a minimum four-year standard college course.

(e) An applicant for licensure who graduated from chiropractic college after January 1, 2010, shall have a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university. Absent a bachelor's degree, the requirement may be met by an academic graduate degree from a regionally accredited college or university and proof that the applicant has taken a nationally recognized standardized test commensurate with that applicant's graduate degree.

(f) The application shall be signed by the applicant in his or her own handwriting, and shall be notarized, and shall recite the history of the applicant's educational qualifications, how long he or she has studied chiropractic, what collateral branches, if any, he or she has studied, the length of time he or she has engaged in clinical practice, with proof thereof in the form of diplomas, certificates, transcripts, etc.

(g) Each applicant shall submit with his or her application satisfactory evidence of good character and reputation.

(h) Each applicant for licensure shall pay to the board a fee of not less than fifty dollars ($50) and not more than one hundred fifty dollars ($150), the exact amount to be fixed annually by resolution of the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners. The fee shall accompany the application. A fee of not less than fifty dollars ($50) and not more than one hundred fifty dollars ($150), the exact amount to be fixed by resolution of the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners shall be paid for any subsequent examination.

(Acts 1959, No. 108, p. 612, §7; Acts 1978, No. 767, p. 1107, §1; Acts 1989, No. 89-237, p. 321, §2; Act 2006-295, p. 602, §1; Act 2009-31, p. 98, §3; Act 2013-414, p. 1568, §1.)