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Montana bill would pool small licensing boards to cover rare, costly legal cases
Summary
Rep. Jodie Echart told the Senate Business and Labor Committee House Bill 227 would create a contingent litigation fund to shield small occupational licensing boards from catastrophic legal costs, funded by small uniform fees only assessed when the fund drops below $300,000 and capped at $25 per licensee per year.
Representative Jodie Echart opened testimony on House Bill 227, proposing a Contingent Litigation Fund for small occupational licensing boards. The fund would pool licensees so rare but expensive legal defense costs do not force tiny boards either to shut down or sharply raise fees for all licensees.
Echart said the fund would initially cover about 29 small boards and roughly 30,900 licensees. Under the bill, assessments would be uniform across participating license types…
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