Senate passes HHS omnibus licensing bill after floor consideration

The Minnesota Senate passed House File 3825 on May 16, an omnibus relating to health occupations that modifies licensing and scopes of practice for acupuncture and herbal medicine and incorporates other health-occupation provisions.

Senator Wiklendt introduced the bill and walked members through changes from the Senate’s version, noting stakeholder-driven edits for acupuncture and herbal medicine practice and the inclusion of a previously adopted compromise on advanced practice registered-nurse language. Wiklendt also said the bill does not retain proposed changes to physician-assistant titles (a provision that would have changed the title to 'physician associate') and that other amendments adopted on the Senate floor were folded in.

Senator Port specifically thanked the floor for including music-therapy licensing language and named a stakeholder (Erica Rupp) for her work on that issue.

The secretary conducted the final roll call. The secretary announced the result as 42 ayes and 24 nays; the bill passed and its title was agreed to.

Next steps: The bill will proceed in standard legislative transmission to the other chamber or to a conference process if needed. The floor record includes the scope changes discussed and stakeholders thanked by members; the transcript does not list a floor-specified effective date for all provisions.