{"id":35174,"date":"2024-01-30T15:42:43","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T21:42:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=35174"},"modified":"2024-01-30T15:42:43","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T21:42:43","slug":"occupational-licensure-bill-amended-advanced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=35174","title":{"rendered":"Occupational licensure bill amended, advanced"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senators broadened an occupational licensure bill to add creation of a professional registry for interior designers before giving the measure second-round approval Jan. 30.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Danielle Conrad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LB16, originally introduced last year by former Albion Sen. Tom Briese, was taken up this session by Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln and would provide broad reciprocal licensure for military members, apprentices and individuals who are licensed in other states, provided they meet a number of criteria.<\/p>\n

Among other provisions, the bill would require that applicants for reciprocal licensure must:
\n\u2022 have held their credential for at least a year;
\n\u2022 hold a credential that covers a similar scope of practice, as determined by the licensing board;
\n\u2022 not have a disqualifying criminal record, as determined by the licensing board;
\n\u2022 not have had their credential surrendered or revoked for negligence or misconduct; and
\n\u2022 not have an open complaint or investigation in any other jurisdiction related to unprofessional conduct or an alleged crime.<\/p>\n

LB16 also would add two members to the State Electrical Board and allow individuals with criminal convictions to provide additional information regarding mitigating factors when submitting an application for licensure, government certification or state recognition of their qualifications.<\/p>\n

Gordon Sen. Tom Brewer brought an amendment on select file to add amended provisions of his LB471, which would establish a voluntary registry of interior design professionals in Nebraska.<\/p>\n

Brewer, chairperson of the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, said the proposal has been introduced in various forms for several years. His amendment was the result of work during the last interim that brought designers and representatives of the state\u2019s engineers and architects to an agreement, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that [first] meeting, I was very vocal in letting them know that my patience had run out and it was time to come to a solution,\u201d Brewer said.<\/p>\n

Beginning Jan. 1, 2025, registrants would be issued a seal by the state treasurer, which would constitute certification that any work done was by the registrant or under their control. Registrants would be required to have passed a technical examination as required by the Council for Interior Design Qualification.<\/p>\n

Among other documents, registrants could provide schematics, plans, drawings and other diagnostics for the features of a registered interior design project. They could not engage in alteration of structural elements, including exteriors and rooftop construction, or work that involves mechanical, HVAC or fire safety systems.<\/p>\n

Brewer said similar legislation has passed in several other states, including Iowa and Minnesota, without any negative impact to public safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is simply giving interior designers an opportunity to have a certification to use in their work,\u201d Brewer said. \u201cThis amendment is a safe, proven proposal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha supported the amendment, which she said addresses a \u201clabor of love\u201d that she has worked on for four years. Interior design is more than \u201cjust paint and pillows,\u201d she said, and obtaining professional recognition for the state\u2019s more than 300 design firms \u2014 most of which are women-owned \u2014 is important for Nebraska\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are entrepreneurs who are running small businesses, who are really going to benefit from this amendment,\u201d Hunt said, \u201cand it\u2019s going to keep them in our state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brainard Sen. Bruce Bostelman also spoke in support of the amendment and the underlying bill. He agreed that the registry would not compromise public safety, as long as Nebraskans are educated about the clear guidelines contained in the measure requiring an engineer or architect to sign off on any structural changes contained in a plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes, in our smaller communities, they don\u2019t realize that,\u201d Bostelman said.<\/p>\n

Following the 34-1 adoption of the Brewer amendment, lawmakers advanced LB16 to final reading by voice vote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senators broadened an occupational licensure bill to add creation of a professional registry for interior designers before giving the measure second-round approval Jan. 30.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[96],"class_list":["post-35174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government-military-and-veterans-affairs","tag-sen-danielle-conrad"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35174"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35176,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35174\/revisions\/35176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}