Committee hears bill to create universal temporary professional licenses, codify federal military licensure rules

The House Special Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs heard House Bill 158 on May 1, a bill that would create a single, statewide temporary professional license administered by the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development and formally align Alaska law with the federal Service Member Civil Relief Act (SCRA), department officials said.

"This legislation establishes a single streamlined license which is administered by the Department of Commerce to replace the various temporary privileges found across our statutes," Deputy Commissioner Anna Latham said, explaining the bill's intent to let professionals licensed in other U.S. jurisdictions work in Alaska while their permanent licenses are processed.

Supporters told the committee the change is designed to reduce paperwork, shorten the time it takes professionals to begin work, and reduce confusion for applicants and employers. Sylvain Robb, director of the Division of Corporations, Business, and Professional Licensing, said universal temporary licensure would allow the department to issue a temporary license to an applicant who holds a substantially equivalent license in another U.S. jurisdiction or who qualifies through military education, training, or service.

Under the bill as presented, a temporary license would be valid for 180 days and may be extended one time for another 180 days at the department's discretion. Applicants must demonstrate they are in good standing in every jurisdiction where they hold or have held a license; the division will verify that standing with the other licensing authorities rather than relying solely on an applicant's statement. If a criminal-history background check is required for the profession, the bill permits the department to issue a temporary license before the check is complete in some professions, department staff said.

The bill excludes two occupations with Alaska-specific training needs: big game guides (AS 08.54) and marine pilots (AS 08.62). Department staff noted many boards already issue temporary permits for particular professions and that HB158 would repeal duplicative, program-specific temporary-license statutes and move the temporary pathway into a single statute (AS 08.01061 in the sectional analysis).

The presentation included several data points meant to frame the bill: the division oversees 45 professional-licensing programs covering more than 250 distinct licenses, permits and endorsements; about 60 professional-licensing staff work in the division; the division reported 19 vacant positions across its broader operations; the number of professional licenses in Alaska rose by about 50% over the last decade with about 7,000 licenses in fiscal year 2024, a 27% increase since FY2019.

Committee members asked detailed questions about verification, processing timelines and sanctions. Representative Sadler asked whether the division would verify licensure directly with other states; Robb replied, "The division does not take people's word for it. So we do require verification of licensure from other states, and that is something that we obtained directly from that other source." Representative Hall questioned the 180-day term as "a really long time;" deputy director Glenn Saviors said 180 days is typical for existing temporary permits and explained that some documentation (transcripts, archived records) can take months to obtain.

The bill also codifies the federal SCRA provisions for military members and their spouses. Under the federal law and as reflected in HB158, an applicant with military orders to Alaska who holds a license in another U.S. jurisdiction and is in good standing in all jurisdictions where they have been licensed may apply and the department must issue a license within 30 days unless additional time is required to complete a criminal background check; in that case the department must issue a temporary license while awaiting the background check. Department staff said they already expedite applications flagged as military or military family and that they have been issuing licenses under SCRA since the federal law took effect.

The presenters noted the department discounts application fees for SCRA applicants (a $100 nonrefundable application fee was cited) and that the licensure fee is currently set at $0 for those SCRA-issued licenses; they also said that since Alaska began issuing licenses under SCRA, no service members or spouses have chosen the older temporary military courtesy license created by prior state law.

Members also discussed how universal temporary licensure interacts with interstate compacts (for example, the Nurse Licensure Compact and other professional compacts). The presenters described compacts as the "gold standard" for portability but said compacts do not exist for every profession and not every state belongs to every compact, so universal temporary licensure remains a needed tool.

No committee vote was taken. At the end of the hearing the chair set HB158 aside; the bill text presented in the sectional includes immediate effective dates for certain transition provisions and a July 1, 2026 effective date for sections creating the new temporary-license framework and repealing prior temporary-license statutes.

What remained undecided in the hearing were policy choices that could be made in amendments: definitions and limits for board-created courtesy licenses, whether to unify sanctions across programs for fraudulently obtained temporary licenses, and any future expansion to recognize Canadian credentials or previously unlicensed occupations (department staff said those expansions were the reason a prior draft produced a fiscal note but were removed to achieve a zero fiscal note). Committee members requested follow-up on specifics such as which programs currently have shorter temporary permits, and the department offered to provide additional information on timelines and board feedback.

The committee's next calendar items were announced and the hearing concluded without further action on HB158.