HB 160: Professional License Degree Amendments - Utah

Substitute #3 → Enrolled · 5 edits · Mar 26, 2025

MODERATE

This bill updates licensure requirements for six professional categories in Utah, including architects, environmental health scientists, engineers, land surveyors, addiction counselors, and geologists. The changes primarily involve clarifying educational degrees, experience hours, and examination rules to ensure consistent standards across these professions. A key addition is the mandate for the Architects and Landscape Architects Licensing Board to maintain at least two distinct pathways for obtaining licensure, offering more flexibility to applicants.

Scope change

The bill expands the scope of flexibility for architects by requiring multiple licensure pathways and updates eligibility criteria for several other professions to align with modern educational and experience standards.

REQUIREMENT

The Architects and Landscape Architects Licensing Board must now maintain at least two pathways for licensure to provide applicants with more options.

ELIGIBILITY

Educational requirements for architects and engineers were clarified to specify minimum bachelor's or master's degrees from accredited programs.

Licensure pathways for land surveyors were updated to include associate degrees and technical college programs as valid qualifications.

Requirements for master addiction counselors and geologists were adjusted to clarify degree types, supervised hours, and examination rules.

TECHNICAL

Various text corrections were made to fix grammatical errors and clarify ambiguous phrasing in the original draft.

Introduced → Substitute #1 · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was reorganized and renumbered to include a Senate Sponsor, removing the original Section 2 on environmental health scientists and renumbering the remaining sections. This shift suggests a strategic move to streamline the bill or address specific legislative concerns regarding the environmental health scientist provisions.

Scope change

The bill's scope was reduced by removing the amendments related to environmental health scientists, while the requirements for architects, engineers, accountants, and geologists were renumbered but largely retained.

SCOPE

All text related to Section 2, which amended licensure requirements for environmental health scientists, was removed from the bill.

REQUIREMENT

The section covering environmental health scientists was removed from the list of affected professions in the bill's title and description.

TECHNICAL

The bill structure was altered by adding a Senate Sponsor line, removing the original Section 2, and renumbering the remaining sections (engineers, accountants, and geologists) to Sections 3, 4, and 5.

Substitute #2 → Substitute #3 · 7 edits

MODERATE

This bill expands the scope of Professional License Degree Amendments to include substance use disorder counselors in addition to architects, environmental health scientists, land surveyors, and geologists. The bill modifies licensure requirements for multiple professions, primarily updating degree requirements, experience thresholds, and examination processes to create multiple pathways for obtaining professional licenses.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded to include substance use disorder counselors as a new profession covered by the amendments, while maintaining coverage of architects, environmental health scientists, land surveyors, and geologists.

SCOPE

Added substance use disorder counselors to the list of professions whose licensure requirements are being modified.

REQUIREMENT

Updated degree requirements for architects to require at minimum a bachelor's degree from an architecture program meeting division-established criteria.

Modified environmental health scientist licensure requirements to clarify degree and coursework requirements.

Adjusted professional engineer and land surveyor qualification requirements to include multiple pathways based on degree level and experience.

Updated geologist licensure requirements to specify degree requirements (bachelor's, master's, or doctorate) with corresponding experience thresholds.

Maintained the requirement for boards to maintain at least two pathways for licensure across all affected professions.

TECHNICAL

Made technical corrections to code section references and formatting throughout the bill.

Substitute #1 → Substitute #2 · 5 edits

MODERATE

This bill amends licensure requirements for architects, environmental health scientists, geologists, and land surveyors in Utah. The most significant change is adding a requirement for the Architects and Landscape Architects Licensing Board to maintain at least two pathways for licensure, which provides more flexibility for applicants. The bill also updates the Senate Sponsor name and makes technical corrections to code section references.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded to include the Architects and Landscape Architects Licensing Board by adding a new section that creates and defines this board's composition and duties.

REQUIREMENT

Added a new requirement for the Architects and Landscape Architects Licensing Board to maintain at least two pathways for licensure.

Updated the Architects and Landscape Architects Licensing Board composition to include four architects, two landscape architects, and one public member.

Added a new duty for board members to assist in maintaining multiple methods to obtain licensure by rule.

TECHNICAL

Updated Senate Sponsor name from LONG TITLE to Chris H. Wilson.

Corrected code section references and made formatting improvements throughout the bill.

Professional License Degree Amendments

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