Often, seemingly innocuous licensing bills have provisions including expansive and vague language which could render individuals with a criminal background, no matter what crimes they have been convicted of or how long ago their conviction was, unable to procure certain occupational licenses. H 5228, S 267, H 5367, S 138, H 5572, S 443, H 6033, and S 576 were some of these bills.
• H 5228 and S 267 would have required evidence that the candidate is of “good moral character” when applying for a school psychologist license with no standards for what this entails, potentially allowing for prior convictions to disqualify an applicant. This bill passed the Senate but dies in the House.
• H 5367 and S 138 would have resurrected a previously repealed statute governing the licensing of medical lab professionals and would have allowed for a denial or suspension of a license if the applicant has ever been convicted of any crime that the licensing body deems “could jeopardize patients’ health,” even though these licensees have no contact with patients and there are no standards in place for making such a determination. S 138 Sub A passed on the Senate floor, but died in the House.
• H 5572 and S 443 maintained language which included under unprofessional conduct for physicians assistants a “conviction of a crime of moral turpitude,” a vague, undefined, and highly subjective phrase which the ACLU has worked to remove from statute for years. These bills passed both the House and the Senate.
• S 576 and H 6033 included offenses such as felony banking law violations and felony drug possession as grounds for denial of a license for massage therapy, despite the irrelevance of the crimes to the practice of massage and regardless of the amount of time that has passed since the conviction. This bill has passed both the House and the Senate.
These pieces of legislation could perpetuate systems of discrimination against individuals with past criminal records; we urged the Committee to impose specific and strict limitations on the use of criminal records which could inappropriately prevent individuals from entering fields for which they may be eminently qualified.
