(a) The department shall appoint a Clinical Laboratory, Blood Bank, and Tissue Bank Committee (hereinafter referred to as "committee") which shall be composed of seven members whose respective terms of office shall be staggered so that the terms of members representing a particular specialty or profession shall not all expire at the same time. Each appointment made by the department shall be made from a list of three names submitted by each professional association representing the medical or medically oriented interest involved and shall comply with the following provisions:

(1) One member of the committee shall be a medical laboratory technician or shall be a medical laboratory technologist who has at least two years' experience but who has not more than 134 hours of college or university level work;

(2) Two members of the committee shall be physicians duly licensed to practice medicine and surgery pursuant to Chapter 34 of Title 43, one of whom limits his practice to pathology;

(3) One member of the committee shall be a medical laboratory technologist;

(4) One member of the committee shall be a chemist;

(5) One member of the committee shall be an active hospital administrator;

(6) One member of the committee shall be a clinical microbiologist; and

(7) There shall be no more than two physician members of the committee serving at the same time. In addition to each appointment made by the department from the list of three names submitted by each professional association, one name from each list shall be selected to serve as an alternate in the event the regularly appointed member is absent. If the alternate must serve as a representative at more than three meetings within any year of appointment, the alternate shall become a member. The third nominee shall then become the alternate member. While such alternate is acting in his official capacity, he shall be governed by the same rules and regulations as other committee members and shall enjoy the same benefits and privileges.

(b) The committee shall elect such officers and shall be governed by such rules and regulations as it may adopt for its own governance, subject to final approval by the department. Members of the committee shall serve without pay but they shall receive reimbursement for actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties. The committee shall be responsible to and report to the department and shall have the duty of advising the department on matters pertaining to standards for studying and evaluating the location, operation, supervision, and procedures of clinical laboratories, blood banks, and tissue banks required to be licensed pursuant to this chapter; staffing and personnel matters in the administration of this chapter; and rules and regulations to be adopted, modified, promulgated, or repealed pursuant to this chapter. No such standards shall be approved, nor staffing and personnel matters in the administration of this chapter decided, nor rules or regulations adopted, modified, promulgated, or repealed by the department except after consultation with the committee. The department shall notify the chairman of the committee of any request by an applicant or licensee for a hearing on any action, proposed action, or failure to act by the department with reference to the issuance, denial, suspension, or revocation of a license to a clinical laboratory, blood bank, or tissue bank pursuant to this chapter; and the chairman of the committee, or any member of the committee if the chairman does not choose to act, shall have the right to attend any such hearing and to request of the department and receive from the department at the department's expense the examiner's report and transcript of any such hearing, such report and transcript to be made available upon such request at least 15 days before final action with respect to any such matter.