Committee clears bill allowing boards to offer fee holidays and adjusts license reporting requirements

Representative Jeff Ehlers introduced House Bill 152, describing multiple provisions that affect occupational licensing boards. The bill directs boards to report revenues and expenditures and to prepare plans to adjust cash balances where boards hold abnormally high or low reserves. "Section 3...is saying let's get a report and figure out a plan to adjust these cash balances," Ehlers said, and section 2 requests revenue-and-expenditure detail.

Ehlers said the bill also authorizes a fee holiday for fees imposed by administrative rule when boards hold excess cash, and performs a technical cleanup to reflect last year's change from one-year to two-year license terms under prior legislation. In response to Representative Harris, Ehlers said a fee holiday could apply to any fee established in administrative rule, including renewal or licensing fees. "Whether it's renewal, licensure, various fees that are found in rules, would allow for a holiday," Ehlers said.

Committee members asked whether the bill conflicted with other pending measures that require statutory authority for new licenses; staff and Representative Baylor clarified that past legislation constrained creation of new licenses but did not prevent agencies from adjusting fees through rulemaking. There was no public testimony. Representative Cannon moved to send House Bill 152 to the floor with a due-pass recommendation; the motion carried on a voice vote.