MS HB478

Mississippi enacts the Occupational Therapy Licensure Compact, allowing occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants licensed in one member state to practice in other member states through a "compact privilege" without obtaining additional licenses.

Licensees must hold an unencumbered home state license, complete a criminal background check including FBI fingerprint-based search, pass a recognized national examination, and meet any jurisprudence requirements of remote states to exercise compact privileges.

The Occupational Therapy Compact Commission is established as a joint public agency to administer the compact, with each member state having one delegate; the Commission has authority to promulgate binding rules, maintain a data system of licensee information, and take enforcement actions.

The compact becomes effective when enacted by the tenth member state; member states may withdraw by repealing the statute with a six-month delay, and the Commission may terminate non-compliant states by majority vote after exhausting other compliance measures.

Disciplinary actions taken against a licensee's home state license automatically deactivate compact privileges in all member states, and licensees who have completed adverse action requirements must wait two years before regaining eligibility for compact privileges.