SB 516
Department of Legislative Services
Maryland General Assembly
2021 Session
FISCAL AND POLICY NOTE
Third Reader
Senate Bill 516 (Senator Klausmeier)
Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Appropriations
State Board of Environmental Health Specialists - Fees - General Fund
This bill repeals the State Board of Environmental Health Specialists Fund and instead
requires the board to pay any money collected from fees into the general fund. The bill
takes effect July 1, 2021.
Fiscal Summary
State Effect: Special fund revenues and expenditures for the board shift to the general
fund beginning in FY 2022. The Governor’s proposed FY 2022 budget includes $144,220
in special fund expenditures for the board. FY 2022 board revenues are estimated to be
$25,000. Out-years reflect consistent expenditures and cyclical collection of licensing fee
revenue primarily in odd-numbered fiscal years. General fund expenditures increase in
FY 2022, 2024, and 2026 as revenues are not anticipated to cover costs.
(in dollars) FY 2022 FY 2023 FY 2024 FY 2025 FY 2026
GF Revenue $25,000 $113,000 $25,000 $113,000 $25,000
SF Revenue ($25,000) ($113,000) ($25,000) ($113,000) ($25,000)
GF Expenditure $144,200 $144,200 $144,200 $144,200 $144,200
SF Expenditure ($144,200) ($144,200) ($144,200) ($144,200) ($144,200)
Net Effect – $0 – $0 –
Note:() = decrease; GF = general funds; FF = federal funds; SF = special funds; - = indeterminate increase; (-) = indeterminate decrease
Local Effect: None.
Small Business Effect: None.
 Analysis
Current Law: The State Board of Environmental Health Specialists (BEHS) was created
in 1969 to ensure that individuals practicing in Maryland as environmental health
specialists meet minimum professional standards. The nine-member board regulates
licensed environmental health specialists as well as environmental health specialists in
training, individuals who meet the educational requirements for licensure but are obtaining
relevant supervised experience); oversees approval of certificates of eligibility for
obtaining employment (for those individuals who meet the educational requirements for
licensure and are ready to begin obtaining relevant supervised experience but have not yet
begun); approves continuing education courses for licensees; and occasionally imposes
disciplinary sanctions.
BEHS is 1 of approximately 70 regulatory entities and activities subject to evaluation under
the Maryland Program Evaluation Act (MPEA). Entities subject to MPEA may be
evaluated by the Department of Legislative Services (DLS) only as directed by specified
entities or by legislation. DLS conducted a full sunset evaluation of BEHS in 2015, the
fifth such full evaluation of the board, Sunset Review: Evaluation of the State Board of
Environmental Health Specialists.
Chapter 667 of 2012 altered the funding for BEHS from general to special funds when the
board was transferred from the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) to the
Maryland Department of Health (MDH, (then the Department of Health and Mental
Hygiene). As a general-funded board under MDE, board revenues did not cover costs, with
a biennial expenditure gap approaching $50,000 in fiscal 2012; however, general funding
was deemed appropriate, and DLS recommended that the board remain general funded in
its 2011 sunset evaluation.
State Fiscal Effect: Special fund revenues and expenditures for the board are transferred
to the general fund beginning in fiscal 2022. Thus, approximately $144,220 in expenditures
are made from the general fund rather than from the board’s special fund, and the board’s
staff members are also shifted from special to general funding. The board primarily collects
revenues in odd-numbered fiscal years but did collect approximately $25,000 in revenues
in fiscal 2020, so an estimated $25,000 is shifted from the board’s special fund to the
general fund in fiscal 2022, 2024, and 2026. An estimated $113,000 is shifted from the
board’s special fund to the general fund in fiscal 2023 and 2025. This estimate assumes
that board revenues and expenditures are consistent in out-years. As revenues are not
anticipated to cover expenditures in even-numbered fiscal years, general fund expenditures
increase in fiscal 2022, 2024, and 2026, and biennially thereafter.
Additional Comments: MDH advises that the board does not currently cover its costs,
and has been insolvent since fiscal 2018. MDH notes that it is reluctant to raise fees to a
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level where revenues would cover board costs because board licensees earn modest salaries
and primarily work in the public sector. The board currently charges a $100 application
fee, a $75 initial license fee, and a $200 biennial renewal fee.
Additional Information
Prior Introductions: HB 1484 of 2020 received a hearing in the House Appropriations
Committee, but no further action was taken. Its cross file, SB 673 passed in the Senate but
received no further action from the House Appropriations Committee.
Designated Cross File: HB 65 (Delegate Bhandari) - Appropriations.
Information Source(s): Maryland Association of County Health Officers; Department of
Budget and Management; Maryland Department of Health; Department of Legislative
Services
Fiscal Note History: First Reader - February 10, 2021
rh/jc Third Reader - March 19, 2021
Analysis by: Kathleen P. Kennedy Direct Inquiries to:
(410) 946-5510
(301) 970-5510
SB 516/ Page 3


Statutes affected:
Text - First - State Board of Environmental Health Specialists - Fees - General Fund: 21-101 Health Occupations, 21-206 Health Occupations
Text - Third - State Board of Environmental Health Specialists - Fees - General Fund: 21-101 Health Occupations, 21-206 Health Occupations