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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 19, 2012 11:35 AM |
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| From: | Representative Kate Harper |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | State Licensing Boards: Power to Expunge Technical Violations - Former HB 646 |
| In the near future, I plan on reintroducing legislation amending 1993 Act 48 to provide all state licensing boards under the Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs (BPOA) in the Department of State with the power to expunge disciplinary records of licensees for minor violations of their practice act and board regulations. Any disciplinary actions, whether serious or a mere technical violation, currently remain on a licensee’s record permanently on-line because the various state licensing boards lack the authority to expunge records. Many practitioners with otherwise unblemished disciplinary histories have complained to state licensing boards that the existence of minor infractions as a permanent part of their publicly available licensure records has prevented them from getting a job, or simply caused them needless embarrassment with clients and colleagues after they have corrected the violation. Surely the current situation, when applied to minor or even technical errors (like the failure to pay a fee) exceeds the purposes of reasonable deterrence. Knowing this, practitioners are less likely to accept voluntary discipline for failing to pay a fee on time, for example. This legislation directs the Commissioner of BPOA to expunge a disciplinary record upon written application of the licensee, registrant, certificate holder or permit holder, if the applicant satisfies the following criteria: 1) the record must be at least four years old at the time of application; 2) the record must be the only disciplinary record the applicant has with the Commissioner or a licensing board or commission under BPOA; 3) the applicant must not be the subject of an active investigation related to professional or occupational conduct; 4) the applicant must not have had a disciplinary record previously expunged by the board; 5) the applicant must wait four years from the effective date of the disciplinary record before applying for expungement of a record involving failure to complete continuing education or practice of six months or less on a lapsed license. 6) the applicant must wait 10 years from the effective date of the disciplinary record before applying for expungement of a record involving any other violation, but disciplinary records involving a violation which resulted in license suspension or revocation are not eligible for expungement under any circumstances. • Expungement seals the affected record from public access and allows the licensee to represent that no record exists. However, BPOA and the licensing board or commission shall continue to maintain the record and may release it upon request from law enforcement or other governmental body as permitted by law. Please join me in cosponsoring this important piece of legislation. PREVIOUS COSPONSORS: BARRAR, COHEN, DAVIDSON, FLECK, FRANKEL, GINGRICH, GRELL, HESS, KORTZ, MAHER, MICOZZIE, MILNE, READSHAW, SANTARSIERO, and THOMAS |
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| View Attachment | ||
Introduced as HB336