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Panel amends and advances bill requiring online tracking of continuing education for licensed professionals
Summary
A House committee amended and approved House Bill 34, which would require licensed professionals to use a secretary of state–managed online system to track continuing education and renew licenses; the panel removed the term “hardship” from a waiver provision after debate.
Rep. Washburn presented House Bill 34 to the Committee on Regulated Industries, proposing statutory authority for an online continuing-education (CE) tracking solution and a requirement that licensees use that system to document CE needed for license renewal.
The bill’s sponsor and staff said the system would replace manual audits by the Secretary of State’s office and let analysts focus on issuing licenses. Gabe, a representative of the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, told the committee that the statutory change “frees up resources and allows our analysts to do the work they need to do to get licenses issued.” He said current audits are manual and limited to about 1–3% of licensees and that tracking would provide internal verification as licensees complete CE.
Why it matters: Supporters argued the online system would reduce administrative workload, provide licensees automated reminders, and cut the need for time-consuming manual audits. Opponents and some professional groups cautioned about waiver language they said could remove needed flexibility for licensees with legitimate reasons for missing CE.
Committee debate focused on a sentence that would have read, in part, that nothing in the subsection “shall prohibit a professional licensing board from granting a hardship waiver.” Several committee members and outside representatives recommended removing the word hardship to avoid forcing boards into repeated debates about whether a particular case met a hardship standard. Gabe and other supporters said keeping the word hardship preserved a narrower, common-sense standard and prevented boards from exercising overly broad discretion to avoid requiring CE tracking.
Representatives of licensed professions addressed the committee. Tim Davis, representing the Georgia Nurses Association, told the panel nurses “overwhelmingly support this program” and described the current third-party tracking systems as easy for licensees to use. Aubrey Valens urged striking the word “hardship,” saying boards should have discretion for cases such as medical emergencies and other individual circumstances.
After discussion, the committee voted voice approval to amend HB 34 by striking the word “hardship” from the waiver sentence and then voted to report the bill do pass as amended to the full committee.
Votes and next steps: The committee adopted the amendment and passed House Bill 34 as amended; both votes were taken by voice and the clerk indicated the ayes carried. The bill will go to the full committee for further consideration.
Ending: The committee’s record shows stakeholder support from several licensee groups and the Secretary of State’s office; further review and debate will take place in the full committee.
