West Virginia Senate Bill SB388

West Virginia 2025 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/13/25
• Refer: 2/13/25

Caption

Board of Occupational Therapy rule relating to request for waiver of licensing fees for certain individuals

Summary

SB 388 is a narrow administrative bill that authorizes the Board of Occupational Therapy to promulgate a legislative rule concerning requests for waivers of licensing fees for certain individuals. The bill does not itself create a new licensing waiver program or set the waiver criteria in statute; instead, it gives effect to a previously filed rule, identified as 13 CSR 07, by amending the state code section that approves miscellaneous agency rules. In practical terms, the bill would allow the Board of Occupational Therapy to move forward with a rule governing when some applicants or licensees may seek relief from occupational therapy licensing fees. The measure is limited to rule authorization and does not appear to alter the underlying occupational therapy licensing framework beyond validating the board’s authority to administer this fee-waiver rule.

Impact

If enacted, SB 388 would amend §64-9-1 of the West Virginia Code to authorize the Board of Occupational Therapy’s legislative rule on fee-waiver requests for certain individuals. The bill affects the board’s regulatory authority and the administration of occupational therapy licensing fees, but it does not directly change licensure qualifications, scope of practice, or disciplinary provisions in the underlying occupational therapy statutes.

Sentiment

No committee transcript or vote record was provided, so there is no documented debate or recorded opposition in the materials supplied. Based on the bill text alone, the measure appears routine and technical, with a generally neutral or procedural posture typical of legislative rule-authorization bills.

Contention

The only likely point of contention is whether the Board of Occupational Therapy should have discretion to waive licensing fees and which individuals should qualify for that relief. Because the bill does not include the substantive waiver standards in the statutory text, any disagreement would likely center on the scope of the board’s rulemaking authority, the fairness of fee waivers, and whether the rule should be approved as filed.