State officials are taking another crack at finalizing proposed rules that would make it easier for Pennsylvania residents with criminal records to earn professional licenses in fields ranging from accounting and nursing to cosmetology and real estate.
The Department of State, which oversees professional licensure, issued a revised version of the rules this month after an earlier draft was rejected in April by a regulatory review panel.
The panel — the Independent Regulatory Review Commission — questioned whether the rules adequately protect public health and safety.
The commission was concerned, in part, that certain crimes were not listed as being “directly related” to certain professions, thus triggering a closer look from licensing boards.
The rules, for example, did not make prior convictions for forgery or identity theft an automatic impediment for people seeking to become state-licensed CPAs.
In its latest version, however, the Department of State did not change the lists of crimes for each field.
What changed: The agency added stronger language emphasizing that licensing boards have a responsibility to consider individual applications for licensure.
The language also clarifies that boards can still consider offenses as part of a licensing decision even if they are not listed as “directly related,” state department spokesperson Matt Heckel said.
In a written response to the review panel’s concerns, Arion Claggett, the acting commissioner of professional and occupational affairs, noted that licensing boards can issue restricted or probationary licenses to people with criminal records, rather than refusing them outright.
“The commission can be confident that nothing in this regulation will undermine public safety,” he wrote.
In fact, Claggett argued, the rules promote public welfare by “increasing access to professional opportunities for individuals who previously may have been denied such access or deterred from applying on the basis of misconduct that would not have a bearing on the individual’s fitness for licensure.”
The background: The rules implement Act 53, a state law enacted in 2020.
The rules have drawn widespread support, including from sponsors of the law like state Sen. John DiSanto, a Dauphin County Republican.
What’s next: The regulatory review panel is scheduled to consider the rules at a meeting June 20.
“I’m not going to crow until I hear the final bell,” said Katie Svoboda-Kindle, a senior staff attorney at Community Legal Services, which supports the rules. “But I’m very hopeful that this will be the final package and it will be approved.”
