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Bill to standardize unlicensed-practice discipline advances after brief hearing
Summary
House Bill 296 would harmonize statutory language about progressive discipline for unlicensed practice across occupational licensing boards; sponsors said it cleans up overlapping language from earlier sessions and drew no opponents in committee.
Representative Jody Echart (House District 51) brought House Bill 296 to the Senate Business and Labor Committee as a cleanup measure to standardize how licensing boards address unlicensed practice and progressive discipline.
Echart and Quinlan O'Connor, chief legal counsel to the Department of Labor and Industry, told the committee that earlier sessions produced multiple, partly overlapping bills and that HB296 collects the remaining cleanup language needed to ensure a single, consistent statutory approach for cease-and-desist orders, fines, injunctive relief and criminal penalties across occupational licensing.
O'Connor said the bill strikes conflicting sections so "we have one statutory answer for all of occupational licensing about what happens in the event of unlicensed practice." Committee staff confirmed there were no opponents in the room or online and no informational witnesses.
Ending: Committee members asked no substantive follow-ups and the committee later advanced the bill during executive action.
