Panel advances bill allowing some internationally trained professionals to apply for Colorado licensure

House Bill 1431, amended in committee, expands Colorado's Occupational Portability Program so that, where practice acts and boards allow, individuals who trained outside the United States may apply directly to Colorado licensure processes rather than first securing U.S.-state licensure as an intermediate step.

Sponsors said the adopted amendment removed an earlier, broader effort to create a one-size-fits-all standard and instead preserves board authority: the bill adds "another country" to the portability statute and leaves detailed equivalency standards to each occupation's practice act and rulemaking. Rep. Soper said the change simply allows internationally trained applicants who meet each board's standards to apply directly to Colorado rather than routing through a U.S. state first.

Witnesses representing DORA, the Department of Labor and Employment's Office of New Americans, the Spring Institute and multiple professional associations testified in support, citing workforce shortages in health care and other licensed professions and the concept of "brain waste" for skilled newcomers. DORA's division director emphasized that boards retain authority to vet equivalency and that the amendment does not lower licensing standards.

The committee adopted a technical amendment (L002) and moved HB1431 as amended to the Committee of the Whole. Sponsors and supporters urged boards and DORA to provide clear, profession-specific guidance to applicants.