Senate Passes Bill Cutting Burdensome Red Tape

COLUMBUS—The Ohio Senate passed House Bill 238, which reviews and makes changes to Ohio's occupational licenses and is supported by State Senator Kristina Roegner (R-Hudson), who chairs the Senate Government Oversight Committee. 

This review is required by Senate Bill 255 of the 132nd General Assembly, which created a six-year cycle where the House and the Senate are tasked with reviewing the licenses of one-third of relevant state occupational licensing boards every two years. 

"One of the problems with government is that it grows continuously, becoming an inefficient behemoth. House Bill 238 is one effort to streamline government, to cut out what is not needed and make government more efficient," said Rogener.

Some of the licensure changes include: 

• Reduction of the application fee for a boiler and pressure vessel inspector certification from $150 to $100
• Extension of the duration of private investigation and security license to two years from one year under current law
• Reduction of the application fee for a steam engineer, high-pressure boiler operator, or low-pressure boiler operate from $75 to $25
• Reduction of the number of required educational hours to receive a real estate salesperson license from 120 hours to 100 hours
• Elimination of a requirement that a motor vehicle salesperson have a separate license in order to sell motor vehicles for a licensed dealer 

Senate Bill 238 also includes Senate Bill 335, which implements the Sunset Review Committee's recommendations. That committee is tasked with evaluating boards, commissions, committees, councils, or any other similar state public bodies. The committee makes recommendations to reauthorize, sunset, or recommend changes to those entities. 

"Each of these pieces of legislation went through a thorough process that aimed to reduce fees and regulations and streamline licensures, boards, and commissions," said the senator. "It is important that we are making positive changes to keep our government as efficient as possible." 

This legislation is now in the Ohio House for concurrence.