CHARLESTON — Several bills introduced on behalf of Governor Patrick Morrisey passed through the West Virginia House of Delegates on Monday.
The House passed the committee substitute for Senate Bill 458, the Universal Professional and Occupational Licensing Act, 97-0, sending the bill back to the state Senate for concurrence with the House’s changes. If the Senate concurs, the bill will be sent to Morrisey’s desk.
SB 458 would allow universal licensing reciprocity in West Virginia for occupations and professions covered by Chapter 30 of the State Code. The bill requires professional boards to issue licenses to individuals who have been licensed in another state for at least a year under certain conditions.
“The purpose of Senate Bill 458 is to enact what is variously known as universal recognition or universal licensure, some form of which has been enacted by 26 other states,” said House Government Organization Committee Chairman Chris Phillips, R-Barbour.
Licensees would need to demonstrate that they are in good standing in their home state and that they meet the minimum education, work experience, and clinical supervision requirements in the state from which they are moving. The bill would also apply to any new resident who has already passed any required out-of-state license examination.
The applicant must have a clean disciplinary record, with no license revocations or voluntary surrenders in other states due to unprofessional conduct, and no criminal history. The licensee would still have to pay any applicable state fees for licensure.
The Universal Professional and Occupational Licensing Act includes provisions for military spouses who travel to West Virginia with their partner and want to transfer their occupational license.
The bill authorizes professional boards to require an exam on West Virginia-specific laws while explicitly prohibiting licenses to practice law and specific background checks. The bill does not apply to the transfer of law licenses from other states, nor to background checks.
A committee substitute for SB 458, approved by the Senate in a 33-0 vote on March 10, requires those transferring a medicine, podiatric medicine, or osteopathic medicine license to practice in West Virginia without clinical supervision after successfully completing a graduate medical education program approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
The American Osteopathic Association, the Council on Podiatric Medical Education, or Colleges of An amendment to the bill proposed by the House Government Organization Committee last week at the request of the West Virginia Board of Dentistry would require dentists who want to transfer their licenses from other states to demonstrate that they have completed a clinical hand-skills exam.
SB 458 was introduced on behalf of Morrisey, who included universal occupational licensing reciprocity in his State of the State address on February 12, the first day of the 2025 legislative session.
During his State of the State address, Morrisey also mentioned House Bill 2002, which establishes a one-stop permitting process. The bill passed the House 99-0 on Monday and now heads to the Senate.
HB 2002 requires the creation of a centralized online permitting dashboard by January 1, 2027, to help streamline the application and renewal processes for various state-level permits, licenses, and business registrations. The bill requires specific state agencies to participate in this centralized system, which will be managed by the state Department of Administration.
“The types of permits that would be covered by the program…are prerequisite for performing any construction, economic development, infrastructure, or natural resource project that are issued by the departments of Commerce, Environmental Protection, Revenue with some exceptions, Tourism, Transportation except for the DMV, and the Secretary of State,” according to Phillips.
The bill also includes the possibility of application fee refunds if permits are not processed within the specified timeframes following the dashboard’s full implementation.
While SB 458 and HB 2002 passed unanimously in the House, two other Morrisey-backed bills passed with some members voting no. House Bill 2010, which required real estate brokers to have offices, passed with a vote of 97-2. According to the bill, “A non-resident broker who maintains a definite place of business in his or her jurisdiction of residence may not be required to maintain an office” in West Virginia.
House Bill 2013, which transfers state employees to classified exempt service, passed the House with a vote of 69-30 and now heads to the Senate.
The proposed legislation would exempt future and current state employees who transfer or are promoted within the Bureau of Senior Services, the Department of Administration, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Revenue, and the Department of Veterans’ Assistance from the classified civil service system and state employee grievance procedures.
Del. Hollis Lewis, D-Kanawha, expressed his displeasure with the bill, particularly its removal of civil service and grievance procedures protections for Department of Veterans’ Assistance employees.
“The Department of Veterans Assistance conducts up to 250 consultations per day to assist veterans. They run a veterans cemetery. They operate the veterans’ nursing homes. “They run other veterans’ facilities,” Lewis explained. “I think it is a shame that we would do anything to inhibit those individuals who work closely with our veterans as far as losing any civil service protections.”
Steven Allen Adams can be contacted at sadams@newsandsentinel.com.
