Legislation to put about 20 of the state’s occupational licensing boards’ executive management under a new state office will be in a Senate committee this afternoon.
Senate Bill 193 is Sen. Chris Elliott’s third attempt to put some of the dozens of boards that license, discipline and collect fees and fines from thousands of Alabama workers under a centralized agency.
Elliott on Monday told Alabama Daily News the change is needed because the current board management system is “wasteful and inefficient and embarrassing.”
The bill is on the 1 p.m. agenda of the Senate County and Municipal Government Committee, chaired by Elliott.
The committee’s agenda late Monday did not include a public hearing on Elliott’s bill, but he told ADN Monday evening one would be held. A vote will also take place today.
Members of two boards impacted by the legislation on Monday defended their organizations and said the bill would reduce their ability to respond to the needs of the professionals they serve.
In the last two years, lawmakers have cracked down on the quasi-government boards, especially noting when much of their revenue from licensees’ fees goes to contracted managers. While board members are appointed, usually by the governor, their executive management can be contracted out, creating a small industry in Montgomery. The boards that are the focus of Elliott’s latest bill include those managed by Keith Warren’s Smith Warren Management and Claire Austin, both lobbyists based in Montgomery.
Multiple boards have been publicly criticized and questioned by the Legislative Sunset Committee for spending and charging fees beyond their authority. Late last year, lawmakers asked the Alabama Attorney General to investigate some of Smith Warren’s billing practices. An analysis by ADN showed that it billed three state occupational boards it manages nearly $600,000 for additional services since fiscal year 2020.
Senate Bill 193 puts fewer boards under the umbrella office than Elliott’s original bill last year did. More than 40 boards are exempted from the proposed Office of Occupational and Professional Licensing, including those that license nurses, doctors and pharmacists. Separate bills to address recent concerns with the pharmacy board and medical board are pending this session.
Michelle Kelley is on the Alabama Board of Assisted Living Facility Administrators, which contracts with Austin for management services. She said the bill creates more bureaucracy when the Trump administration is trying to shrink the government.
“Our board is very effective, very efficient,” she said. “It would take three people to do what our executive director does.”
She said her board can quickly train, test and license the people who run assisted living facilities in the state.
“I can’t imagine the backlog if this (bill becomes law),” she said.
She also questioned why some boards are excluded from the bill.
“Why isn’t it all or none?” she said.
Elliott said his newest bill is a result of committee work done in 2024.
“It reflects the smaller boards that have had the most problems,” Elliott said. “So let’s start there.
“The lion’s share of the problems that we have seen are in no small part due to the fact they don’t have good administrative services,” Elliott said. “It’s all bookkeeping stuff.”
Jim Casteel is on the State of Alabama Private Investigation Board. On Monday, he said he hoped to speak at today’s committee meeting. He requested last week a public hearing.
He said the board was created more than a decade ago to reflect the diversity of the state and the industry and to “add some ethics and professionalism” to the industry. He said the board is responsive to industry needs, including creating reciprocal agreements with neighboring states’ licensing boards.
“We do everything we can to keep the working people working and our primary function is to protect the consumer,” Casteel said.
He is concerned that decisions about fees would be in the hands of the director of the new office and could be increased if needed to fund the new state office.
Meanwhile, the board would lose its authority to fire a director who wasn’t responsive to licenses or consumers’ complaints.
The most recent Examiners of Public Accounts report on the private investigators board showed multiple bookkeeping issues, including Austin, who has been the executive director since 2020, being paid in advance for services, which isn’t allowed under state law.
Similar issues were found with the assisted living administrators board, as well as it charging a $45 fee not allowed under state statute.
“The only thing scarier than government is somebody acting as if they’re the government and they’re not accountable, there’s no oversight, there’s no education,” Elliott said. “They’re just … a lobbyist that thought they could make a buck.”
In 2024, Gov. Kay Ivey supported Elliott’s proposal. Asked about the new bill, Ivey in a statement to ADN said since taking office, she’s sought ways to make state government more efficient, accountable and transparent.
“I commend efforts to keep making our government work better for Alabamians,” Ivey said.