Committee adopts amendment to create executive administrator role and advances SB29

The House Finance Committee on May 15 adopted an amendment to Senate Bill 29 and voted to move the bill out of committee. Sen. Jesse Bjorkman told the committee SB29 would place into statute an executive administrator for the Big Game Commercial Services Board, a specialized position responsible for administering guide license tests around the state.

Representative Tomaszewski offered Amendment 1 to extend a similar executive-administrator structure to the Board of Dental Examiners, saying the board requested the change to streamline licensing reviews, and noted that the position’s incremental cost would be covered by license fees. Sylvan Raab, director of the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing, said the dental board oversees nearly 3,700 licenses and that an executive administrator would improve efficiency and allow the board to focus on regulatory priorities.

The committee removed objections, adopted the amendment and then voted to move SB29 out of committee as amended with individual recommendations and attached fiscal note; Legislative Legal was authorized to make technical or conforming changes.

Next steps: SB29 (version 34-LS0287A) moves to the next stage of the process with committee recommendations and an attached fiscal note.