The Central Agency Administrators (CAA), a special interest group of CLEAR, make every effort to meet two or three times a year to discuss issues of mutual interest. Even though we discuss many topics, including challenges and opportunities, there are three topics that continually surface:

1. How can we better use technology to serve our licensees, including Internet applications/renewals; telephone applications/renewals; sharing information on verifications; etc?
2. How does Continuing Professional Education really assist in our mission to protect the public?
3. How does Reciprocity/Mobility relate to the use of national exams?

For example, as licensing directors for a variety of professions, we encourage our licensing boards to use national exams. They can benefit licensees in relocating from one state to another. These exams help to equalize the education and training which are the main components in allowing a practitioner to do business within a specific state. On the other hand, as administrators, we are interested in seeing costs for a given national exam to decrease as the number of candidates taking it increase.

We will discuss these and other cutting edge issues at the CLEAR Annual Conference in Miami. The Central Agency Administrators Roundtable will be held on Friday, September 15, from 8:30-10:00 a.m. We invite all interested CLEAR members to attend and join in the discussions.

On a related note, CLEAR staff has informed me that the CLEAR Discussion Forum will be on-line as part of the Members Only section shortly after the annual conference. The Forum will provide the opportunity for members to have a "threaded" discussion or seek information from other members on issues of common interest. This should prove to be a valuable tool in exchanging information and in conducting discussions on topics such as those mentioned above.