Interim study recommends 7‑day routine licensure, tech upgrades to speed occupational licensing

Nathan Zvijovic presented a December 2024 study on occupational licensure to the North Dakota Senate Workforce Development Committee, outlining recommendations intended to speed licensing for professionals licensed in other states and to modernize continuing‑education rules.

Zvijovic, who said he was speaking in his personal capacity, told the committee the study grew from Senate Bill 2249 and covered all Title 43 licensing boards plus the Education Standards and Practices Board and the Board of Law Examiners. He described a research process that included a 53‑question questionnaire, meetings with all 42 boards, stakeholder surveys, and a review of 26 states’ “universal licensure” laws. “I feel like we produced one of the best, most comprehensive studies on this to date,” Zvijovic said.

The report documents variation across boards: an average of 6.3 board members and 2.6 staff members per board, four boards with no staff, and roughly 149 unrestricted license types among the boards studied. Sixteen of 42 boards require criminal‑history record checks; Zvijovic told the committee that those background checks performed by the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation add “7 to 14 days to the completed application.” He said 32 of 42 boards (76%) already delegate routine approvals to staff, which the report endorses as a tool to speed processing.

The study identified technology and data gaps: some boards still accept paper applications, some rely on spreadsheets, and Zvijovic estimated about 20–25 boards would likely benefit from a shared licensing software or other technology solutions that would reduce processing delays, eliminate mailing errors and provide real‑time analytics for policymakers.

On continuing education, the study found large variation: four boards have no CE requirements, and 20 boards had not updated CE rules in 20 years. Of the 38 boards that require CE, 27 allow all CE to be virtual, seven allow partial virtual CE, and four allow none; the report recommends broader virtual options and prorated CE requirements for late entrants in a licensing cycle.

Major recommendations the report presented to the committee include: - Set a 7‑calendar‑day target for routine licensure decisions after receipt of a completed application, with forgiveness language for boards that lack staff or encounter exceptional circumstances. - Encourage delegation of routine licensing authority to board staff where statutes permit. - Promote interstate compacts and border‑state reciprocity where appropriate, while warning that compacts require identical statutory language and multi‑state adoption to be effective. - Adopt a process to allow boards to grant “equivalent experience” licenses when prior practice is demonstrably comparable to North Dakota requirements. - Provide one‑time funding or a centrally procured solution to bring smaller boards onto modern licensing software and to host a shared board collaboration forum for training and information sharing. - Expand virtual continuing education options and consider prorated CE requirements for partial licensing cycles.

Zvijovic told the committee the study included appendices that list each board’s questionnaire responses, meeting dates, summaries of other states’ laws and notes from calls with other states’ officials. He recommended ongoing electronic data collection so future reviews would not require repeated ad‑hoc data gathering.

Committee members asked about specific timing and implementation details, including how the 7‑day target would treat applicants who submit incomplete applications and how the proposal would address background‑check timing. Zvijovic replied the 7‑day goal applied only to routine applications once a completed file is received and acknowledged that some statutory changes and one‑time funding would likely be needed to implement technology upgrades.

The presentation closed with committee members thanking Zvijovic for the work and indicating the report provided “food for thought” for future legislation.

Ending

The report will be available to committee members and the public in the study packet; Zvijovic and the Occupational Licensure Advisory Committee members are available for follow‑up questions the committee wishes to pursue.