CS for CS for CS for SB 1640: Deregulation of Professions and Occupations

• Eliminates separate licensing requirements for yacht broker branch offices and removes associated fees.

• Repeals licensing and registration requirements for labor organization business agents, including provisions on licensure permits, hearings, confidential information, registration fees, and applicability rules.

• Expands reciprocal licensing agreements by requiring the Department of Business and Professional Regulation to recognize substantially equivalent licenses from other states and territories; requires a report on apprenticeship program equivalencies by December 31, 2019.

• Reduces continuing education requirements and streamlines licensure by endorsement for multiple professions (cosmetologists, contractors, engineers, landscape architects, geologists, accountants, and veterinarians) by waiving requirements for applicants with 10+ years of experience in other states.

• Removes "certificate of authorization" requirements for business organizations in engineering, architecture, landscape architecture, and geology, replacing them with "qualification" by individual qualifying agents and eliminating separate business entity licensing fees.