Committee adopts amendment, advances interstate compact for respiratory therapists

The House Health Committee adopted an amendment and gave a favorable report to an interstate-compact bill intended to standardize the licensure and portability process for respiratory therapists, a committee member said.

Representative Mooney described the measure as part of ongoing state efforts to join professional licensure compacts that create standard procedures across states. He told committee members the compact language is lengthy and that the amendment in front of the committee replaced specific lines to clarify where certain commission authorities are vested. "These things are long. I mean, they're like, you know, 8, 900 pages," Mooney said, describing the compact materials.

Representative Gray moved to adopt the amendment; the committee approved the amendment by voice vote. The committee then gave a favorable report on the bill as amended; Representative Rafferty is recorded as seconding the favorable-report motion. The committee did not record a roll-call vote in the transcript.

Committee members framed the amendment as a technical fix to align the compact's language with previous compact bills the legislature has passed for other professions. The bill will proceed as amended to the next stage for further review and any required fiscal or administrative analysis.