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Department of Licensing seeks consolidation of small licensing accounts to stabilize fees, staff says
Summary
Senate Bill 5294 would repeal multiple small dedicated accounts and transfer balances and future receipts into DOL’s Business and Professions Account to smooth costs and reduce abrupt fee spikes; Department of Licensing staff and the department’s policy director supported the change at the committee hearing.
The Appropriations Committee received a staff briefing and supportive public testimony on Senate Bill 5294, which would consolidate multiple small professional licensing accounts into the Department of Licensing’s Business and Professions Account.
Shenia Lee, committee staff, explained the bill’s scope and mechanics. “Engross substitute Senate Bill 52 94 is requested by the Department of Licensing,” Lee said. She described six account types that would be repealed with their existing fund balances transferred into the business and professions account and noted the bill directs the department to report annually on expenditures and revenues for each profession that uses the consolidated account; the first report would be due Sept. 30, 2026. Lee also cited a departmental implementation estimate of about $146,000 in one-time software and systems changes to implement the consolidation.
Molly Voorhis, policy and legislative director at the Department of Licensing, testified in support and said consolidation would allow reserves to absorb sudden cost increases and protect professions from sudden significant fee hikes. “Basically, this allows more resources to be available to help absorb sudden cost increases and protects the professions from having sudden significant fee increases,” Voorhis said. The Senate amended the bill to add annual reporting language, which DOL indicated it accepts.
The bill affects accounts tied to a range of professions regulated by DOL, including architects, landscape architects, funeral directors and cemetery professionals, real estate appraisers, geologists and appraiser management companies. The committee recorded no vote at the hearing.
Committee staff and the department framed the change as administrative and protective of regulated professions’ fee stability; testimony did not raise significant opposition at the hearing.
