Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

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68th Legislature 2023                                                                                             HB 87.1
                                                 HOUSE BILL NO. 87
                                           INTRODUCED BY B. MERCER
                        BY REQUEST OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND INDUSTRY
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  A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: “AN ACT GENERALLY REVISING LAWS RELATED TO LICENSING
  BOARDS; ESTABLISHING STANDARDS FOR APPOINTMENTS, QUALIFICATIONS, AND TERMS FOR
  LICENSING BOARDS; PROVIDING FOR STANDARDIZED LICENSING BOARD ORGANIZATION AND
  COMPENSATION; REVISING REQUIREMENTS TO REVIEW REQUESTS TO CREATE A NEW LICENSING
  BOARD; ADDING LICENSING PROGRAMS TO THE REVIEW REQUIRED FOR NEW LICENSING BOARDS;
  AMENDING SECTIONS 2-8-401, 2-8-402, 2-15-1730, 2-15-1731, 2-15-1732, 2-15-1733, 2-15-1734, 2-15-
  1735, 2-15-1736, 2-15-1737, 2-15-1738, 2-15-1739, 2-15-1740, 2-15-1741, 2-15-1742, 2-15-1743, 2-15-1744,
  2-15-1747, 2-15-1748, 2-15-1749, 2-15-1750, 2-15-1751, 2-15-1753, 2-15-1756, 2-15-1757, 2-15-1758, 2-15-
  1761, 2-15-1763, 2-15-1764, 2-15-1765, 2-15-1771, 2-15-1773, 2-15-1781, AND 2-15-1782, MCA;
  REPEALING SECTION 2-8-403, MCA; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.”
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  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:
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          NEW SECTION. Section 1.        Appointment -- qualifications -- terms. (1) The governor shall appoint
  the members of a board designated under 2-15-1730 through 2-15-1782 in accordance with this section and
  with the consent of the senate.
          (2)      The governor shall have the authority to remove members of the board with or without cause. A
  board member who misses three meetings over a period of 1 year without good cause must be removed from
  the board automatically.
          (3)      Each board must be composed of professional and public members.
          (4)      Each professional member of a board must, while serving as a board member:
          (a)      be a resident of this state and at least 18 years of age; and
          (b)      be currently practicing in the profession or occupation and have an active license in this state in
  good standing for the profession or occupation in which the member is appointed to serve. For the purposes of
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68th Legislature 2023                                                                                                 HB 87.1
  this section, "good standing" means an active license unencumbered by a final order of disciplinary action or
  administrative suspension.
          (5)      (a) Each public member of the board must be a resident of this state and at least 18 years of
  age.
          (b)      A public member may not be:
          (i)      or ever have been, a licensee of the board on which the public member is appointed to serve;
          (ii)     the spouse, parent, or child of a current or former licensee of the board; or
          (iii)    a person who currently or within the 3 years prior to appointment had any material financial
  interest in the provision of professional services or engaged in any activity related to the practice of the
  profession regulated by the board on which the public member is appointed to serve, except as a consumer.
          (6)      (a) Each board member shall maintain eligibility to serve on the board by avoiding conflicts of
  interest or relationships that would interfere with the board mission of public protection.
          (b)      (i) A member of the board may not serve as an officer or hold any leadership position in a state
  or national professional association representing the industry related to the profession regulated by the board
  for the term of the board member's appointment.
          (ii)     A leadership position includes but is not limited to a voting member of an executive board or
  service on an ethics committee, membership committee, examination committee, or other similar positions of
  the association or other similar organization.
          (7)      A board member may not have a financial interest in the provision of continuing education to
  any licensee if that continuing education is required by statute or rule.
          (8)      Each member of the board shall annually attest to having completed coursework or training of a
  duration and covering content provided by the department to address relevant regulatory issues, including role
  of the board, role of the board member, conflict of interest, competition, administrative procedures,
  enforcement, and immunity.
          (9)      Except as provided in subsection (10), board members must be appointed by the governor with
  the consent of the senate for a term of 4 years unless appointed to fill a vacancy that occurs prior to the
  expiration of a former member's full term. A member appointed to fill a vacancy under this section shall serve
  the remaining portion of the unexpired term. Appointments made when the legislature is not in session must be
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68th Legislature 2023                                                                                              HB 87.1
  confirmed at the next regular legislative session.
          (10)     The terms of the board members begin on July 1 and are staggered. Subject to 2-16-213, each
  member shall serve until the expiration of their term unless the member cannot serve because of removal or
  resignation from board membership.
          (11)     A member may serve two consecutive full terms and may not be reappointed within 4 years of
  the completion of the member's second consecutive full term. For the purposes of this section, an appointment
  to fill an unexpired term does not constitute a full term.
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          NEW SECTION. Section 2.         Board organization -- meetings -- compensation. (1) The board shall
  annually elect a presiding officer and a vice presiding officer to serve in the absence of the presiding officer.
  The presiding officer shall preside at all meetings of the board and perform duties customarily associated with
  the position. The presiding officer may establish board committees to further board business and designate
  board members as committee members.
          (2)      A presiding officer elected by the board shall serve a 1-year term commencing at the
  conclusion of the meeting at which the presiding officer is elected and ending on the election of their successor.
  A presiding officer may serve no more than four consecutive 1-year terms.
          (3)      The board shall meet at least annually to conduct business. A majority of the membership of
  the board constitutes a quorum to conduct business. For the purposes of this subsection, the "membership" of
  the board does not include members whose terms have expired or who have been removed from board
  membership.
          (4)      Members of the board are entitled to compensation and travel expenses as provided in 37-1-
  133.
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          Section 3. Section 2-8-401, MCA, is amended to read:
          "2-8-401.   Purpose. It is the intent of the legislature to:
          (1)      exercise the police power of the state through the establishment of licensing boards and
  licensing programs only when regulation of a profession or occupation benefits the public health, safety,
  welfare, or common good of the state's residents and that benefit outweighs the potential increased cost to the
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68th Legislature 2023                                                                                              HB 87.1
  public and limitation on competition;
          (2)      recognize those professions or occupations that require specialized skill or training; and
          (3)      provide the public with a means to determine whether practitioners have met competency
  standards and to complain if the competency is suspect."
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          Section 4. Section 2-8-402, MCA, is amended to read:
          "2-8-402. Intent to create new board. (1) A bill draft request to create a department of labor and
  industry licensing board or licensing program must include a letter of intent not exceeding 1,000 words report
  that addresses the criteria in subsections (2) and (3).:
          (2)   The letter of intent must contain the following descriptions:
          (a)      how licensing would protect and benefit the public; and, in particular,
          (b)      how the unregulated practice of the profession or occupation would pose a hazard to public
  health, safety, or welfare or the common good and whether the nature of the profession or occupation makes it
  difficult for the consumer to evaluate the hazard;
          (b)(c)   the extent of practitioners' autonomy, as indicated by the degree of independent judgment that
  a practitioner may exercise or the extent of skill or experience required in making the independent judgment
  proposed minimum education, experience, and examination requirements necessary to provide the service,
  comparative data, and analysis on the licensure of the profession or occupation in other states and whether the
  proposed requirements are greater, less than, or equal to a national average;
          (c)(d)   the distinguishable proposed scope of practice;
          (d)(e)   the overlap or shared a description of any overlapping scopes of practices practice with an
  existing, licensed profession or occupation professions or occupations, whether licensed or not;
          (e)   the degree, if any, to which licensing would restrict entry into the profession or occupation for
  reasons other than public health, safety, or welfare or the common good;
          (f)   the specialized skills or training required for the profession or occupation;
          (g)   the proposed qualifications for licensure;
          (f)      an analysis of the impact licensure would have on the type, cost, and availability of services to
  consumers, the number of providers currently in the market, and other impacts on market conditions;
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68th Legislature 2023                                                                                                 HB 87.1
          (h)(g)   whether a description of any licensure exception exceptions; would be provided to existing
  practitioners and whether those eligible for the exception
          (h)      existing practitioners and the date by which they would be required to meet proposed
  qualifications at a certain time;
          (i)      a list of other states that license the profession or occupation;
          (j)      regulatory alternatives other than licensing that are available to the practitioners of the
  profession or occupation; and
          (k)      previous efforts, if any, to regulate the profession or occupation; and
          (l)      whether the profession or occupation could be regulated by an existing licensing board or
  licensing program.
          (3)(2)   In order to help in the determination of licensing To estimate initial costs, the letter of intent
  report must contain a good faith effort to provide answers to the following questions address:
          (a)      how many the number of licensees are anticipated, including the number of practitioners in
  Montana and a basis for the estimate;
          (b)      what is if a licensing board is proposed, the proposed makeup of the licensing board
  membership; and
          (c)      what are the projected annual licensing fees based on information from the department of labor
  and industry for all costs associated with a licensing board or licensing program of the projected size.
          (4)   After receiving a copy of the responses to subsections (2), (3)(a), and (3)(b), the department of
  labor and industry shall assist those developing the letter of intent under 2-8-403 or this section with the
  responses to subsection (3)(c) of this section.
          (5)   For the purposes of this section, a letter of intent is a public record
          (3)      For the purposes of membership of a board, the inclusion of an additional license type to be
  regulated to an existing board may not result in adding that license type as a member of the board if the scope
  of practice of the newly regulated license type is within the scope of an existing professional board member
  position on the board."
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          Section 5. Section 2-15-1730, MCA, is amended to read:
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68th Legislature 2023                                                                                              HB 87.1
           "2-15-1730. Alternative health care board -- composition -- terms -- allocation. (1) There In
  accordance with [section 1], there is an alternative health care board.
           (2)      The board consists of six members appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate.
  The members are:
           (a)      two persons members from each of the health care professions regulated by the board who
  have been actively engaged in the practice of their respective professions for at least 3 years preceding
  appointment to the board;
           (b)      one public member who is not a member of a profession regulated by the board; and
           (c)(b)   one member who is a Montana physician whose practice includes obstetrics; and
           (c)      one public member.
           (3)   The members must have been residents of this state for at least 3 years before appointment to the
  board.
           (4)   All members shall serve staggered 4-year terms. The governor may remove a member from the
  board for neglect of a duty required by law, for incompetency, or for unprofessional or dishonorable conduct.
           (5)(3)   The board is allocated to the department for administrative purposes only, as prescribed in 2-
  15-121."
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           Section 6. Section 2-15-1731, MCA, is amended to read:
           "2-15-1731. Board of medical examiners. (1) There In accordance with [section 1], there is a
  Montana state board of medical examiners.
           (2)      The board consists of 13 members appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate.
  Appointments made when the legislature is not in session may be confirmed at the next session.:
           (3)   The members are:
           (a)      five members having the degree of doctor of medicine doctors of medicine, including one
  member with experience in emergency medicine;
           (b)      one member having the degree of doctor of osteopathy;
           (c)      one member who is a licensed podiatrist;
           (d)      one member who is a licensed nutritionist;
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68th Legislature 2023                                                                                               HB 87.1
          (e)      one member who is a licensed physician assistant;
          (f)      one member who is a licensed acupuncturist;
          (g)      one member who is a volunteer emergency care provider, as defined in 50-6-202, who may be
  a volunteer emergency care provider; and
          (h)      two public members of the general public who are not medical practitioners.
          (4)   (a) The members having the degree of doctor of medicine may not be from the same county.
          (b)   The volunteer emergency care provider must have a demonstrated interest in and knowledge of
  state and national issues involving emergency medical service and community-integrated health care.
          (c)   Each member must be a citizen of the United States.
          (d)   Each member, except for public members, must have been licensed and must have practiced
  medicine, acupuncture, emergency medical care, or dietetics-nutrition in this state for at least 5 years and must
  have been a resident of this state for at least 5 years.
          (5)   Members shall serve staggered 4-year terms. A term begins on September 1 of each year of
  appointment. A member may be removed by the governor for neglect of duty, incompetence, or unprofessional
  or dishonorable conduct.
          (6)(3)   The board is allocated to the department for administrative purposes only as prescribed in 2-
  15-121."
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          Section 7. Section 2-15-1732, MCA, is amended to read:
          "2-15-1732. Board of dentistry. (1) There In accordance with [section 1], there is a board of
  dentistry.
          (2)      The board consists of five dentists, one denturist, two dental hygienists, and two public
  members, one of whom must be a senior citizen. All members are appointed by the governor with the consent
  of the senate. Each licensed member must be licensed to practice as a dentist, denturist, or dental hygienist in
  this state, must have actively practiced in this state for at least 5 continuous years immediately before the
  member's appointment, and must be actively engaged in practice while serving on the board. Each member
  must be a resident of this state. eight members:
          (a)      four dentists;