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Bill would change appointment process and quorum rules for audiology, hearing‑aid, speech and music therapy board
Summary
House Bill 406 would remove professional associations from the appointments process and change quorum rules for the State Board of Examiners that serves audiologists, hearing‑aid dispensers, speech‑language pathologists and music therapists.
Delegate Pam Gazzoni told the committee that House Bill 406, requested by the Department of Health, would (1) remove professional organizations from the process of nominating candidates to the State Board of Examiners for audiologists, hearing aid dispensers, speech‑language pathologists and music therapists, and (2) change quorum requirements so a majority of appointed members is sufficient rather than requiring at least one representative of each discipline.
Sponsor and Board representatives said the current mix of organization‑nominated seats and board‑selected seats creates inconsistency, delays and vacancies when a listed organization cannot forward names. The board’s executive director, Keena Stevenson, and board chair testified that removing organizations from the appointment process would broaden the candidate pool and reduce repeated postponements caused when a single discipline cannot fill its seat.
Opponents included the Maryland Academy of Audiology, whose representative, Dr. Melissa Segev, asked the committee not to revert last year’s change that required the Academy to submit candidate names for some vacant seats. Dr. Segev said HB 406 would undo legislation passed in 2024 that aligned the audiology appointments process with other health occupational boards and warned the bill would “further alienate” the board from peer boards that rely on professional associations to submit candidates.
Members of the committee pressed sponsors on whether the change would reverse a successful reform and asked about recent staffing and administrative improvements at the board; board witnesses said new staff would improve administration but argued consistency for all disciplines is the priority.
Ending: The hearing included competing views: the board and sponsor argued removing organizational nominations would expand the applicant pool and avoid quorum problems, while the Maryland Academy of Audiology urged the committee to allow the 2024 change to take effect and to permit that organization to continue submitting nominees. No vote was recorded in the transcript.
