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Senate moves bill to standardize how licensing boards use criminal records and allow advance eligibility checks
Summary
SB207 would standardize which offenses licensing boards may consider, require a direct-relationship finding to disqualify applicants, create a predetermination process so applicants can check eligibility before training, and require public reporting on licensing decisions; the committee advanced the bill unanimously.
A Georgia Senate committee unanimously advanced Senate Bill 207, a comprehensive rewrite that standardizes how state occupational licensing boards evaluate applicants’ criminal records and creates an advance predetermination process for prospective workers.
Authoring senators told the committee the bill, carried as LC 492185, is largely the same measure considered last year and aims to reduce barriers to employment for Georgians with prior records by clarifying which offenses boards may consider and by requiring a finding of a direct and substantial relationship between an applicant’s offense and the licensed occupation before denying licensure.
The bill specifies that boards may consider felonies and certain covered misdemeanors, but only when the applicant’s prior conduct creates a direct and substantial risk to public safety that is related to the duties of the license and where the applicant has not been rehabilitated. SB207 creates a predetermination process through which an individual may seek a ruling on eligibility before investing in education or training. The bill also requires boards to publish eligibility guidance on their websites and establishes public reporting requirements to track how criminal records affect licensure decisions. Sponsors said the measure includes cleanups to last year’s record-restriction laws and clarifies that sealed records held by prosecutor’s offices are not subject to public-open-records requests.
Senator Strickland, presenting the bill, said one in six jobs in Georgia requires an occupational license and that inconsistent board practices can discourage people with criminal records from even seeking certain occupations. He said stakeholders including the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, the Metro Atlanta Chamber, the Faith and Freedom Coalition and the Georgia Justice Project supported the measure.
The bill also includes three technical cleanups from last year’s legislation: clarifying that petitions from human-trafficking survivors remain sealed, extending record-restriction language to Department of Corrections records, and protecting sealed prosecutor records from open-records disclosure.
A brief question-and-answer period followed; the presenter said the Senate had considered similar language in the previous session and that the House had passed its companion late in the prior year. The committee approved the bill on a motion by Senator Watson, seconded by Senator Parent; the transcript records the committee’s vote as unanimous.
If enacted, the bill would create a uniform standard across licensing boards, let prospective workers check eligibility before investing in training, and provide public data on how criminal records interact with occupational licensing decisions.
