Committee hears bill to consolidate several professional license accounts into Department of Licensing business-and-professions account

Clint McCarthy, committee staff, briefed House Bill 1300 on March 13. The bill would add architects, embalmers and funeral directors, landscape architects, certified real estate appraisers, geologists, appraisal management companies, and the funeral and cemetery board to the Department of Licensing’s business and professions account and repeal the separate statutes for those individual accounts.

McCarthy told the committee the business and professions account currently aggregates receipts from many professional licenses and that the account received roughly $17.2 million in the current biennium. The bill would transfer residual balances from the individual accounts to the consolidated account on Dec. 25, 2025, with the state treasurer executing transfers after OFM completes the 2025 fiscal-year statement.

Alejandro Sanchez, deputy director of the Washington Department of Licensing, testified in support. Sanchez said the professions being added have relatively low licensee counts and that the department worked with the affected industries before proposing consolidation. He said the department was receptive to an amendment changing quarterly reporting to annual reporting and did not oppose that change.

Kathy Walsh, president of the Appraisers Coalition of Washington, testified in support, saying consolidation would add stability to the appraisers’ account and that the coalition worked with Department of Licensing leadership on the approach. Representative Brandy Donke summarized the bill as allowing the department to shift funds between professions during a biennium to avoid abrupt, large fee increases for any single profession.

Clint McCarthy reported the bill passed the House by a vote of 96 to 0; committee staff said a Senate companion (Senate Bill 5294) had been heard previously in the committee in January. Public testimony concluded in committee.