Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Professional Regulation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
House advances technical updates to professions and occupations statute, including modest fee changes
Summary
HB 13‑24, a Department of Regulatory Agencies implementation bill, was adopted after floor amendments clarifying administrative delegation, mailing procedures and restoring certain professions to statute; sponsors defended a modest legal‑defense fee increase, citing multi‑year legal expense figures.
Representative McCormick presented House Bill 13‑24 and described it as an implementation bill for recommendations from the Department of Regulatory Agencies' 2025 sunset review. The bill makes technical changes to licensing and board procedures, authorizes delegations for administrative tasks, extends time to request hearings from 20 to 25 days for licensees who receive a letter of admonition, authorizes electronic correspondence to licensees and restores several classes of professions to the statute.
Floor amendment L007 (which would have struck a proposed $1 increase to the legal defense fund fee) was offered and lost after debate; sponsors said legal defense costs for divisions ranged from about $3.1 million to $5.2 million in reviewed fiscal years and argued the modest fee change offsets potential increases to license fees. Amendment L003 (clarifying board staff delegation) and L005/L004 (technical changes removing the word "certified" from certain mailing requirements) were adopted. The committee report as amended was accepted and the bill passed second reading and was placed on the calendar for third reading.
Floor debate centered on whether the modest fee adjustment was justified and on preserving the ability for divisions to handle administrative functions efficiently. Representative McCormick provided historical legal expense figures to justify the change.
