Senate Committee Advances Healthcare Licensing Compact Bill

The Alaska Senate Labor and Commerce Committee advanced House Bill 110 on Wednesday, sending the healthcare licensing measure to the full Senate.

House Bill 110 started as the Social Work Licensure Compact. It now includes four more interstate compacts for doctors, physician assistants, psychologists, and emergency medical services personnel.

Interstate compacts are agreements between states that allow licensed professionals to practice across state lines without getting a separate license in each state. Alaska providers with an active license could work in other compact member states. Providers licensed in other member states could practice in Alaska. Each compact sets shared standards for licensure and background checks while states keep authority over discipline and regulation.

The bill also changes scope of practice rules for respiratory therapists, occupational therapists, and physical therapists. Chair Jesse Bjorkman said the provisions will help Alaska comply with federal mandates under the Rural Health Care Transformation Program.

The measure advanced through the Senate Health and Social Services Committee a day earlier on a 3-2 vote. Two senators voted against it over state sovereignty concerns. Supporters say the compacts will make it easier for out-of-state providers to practice in Alaska, addressing rural health care access challenges.

The committee first adopted a committee substitute for the bill, version 34-LS0258/h. It then adopted a conceptual amendment to clarify respiratory therapist licensing requirements. The Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing brought forward the changes, which streamlined language around certification requirements and continuing education.

Bjorkman thanked members for their collaborative work on the legislation. "I would like to thank all the members of the Health and Social Services Committee and Chair Dunbar for the work that his committee did as well on the four compacts and the language of the Rural Health Transformation Project Council that are now pieces of legislation that exist inside of this bill," Bjorkman said.

"This is an important bill for a lot of healthcare reasons and a lot of modernization here that is going to clean up licensing and practice in our state," Bjorkman said.

The committee substitute repeals the Rural Health Transformation Program on December 31, 2031. The Interstate Medical Licensure Compact has been adopted or is under consideration in multiple states including New Mexico, Michigan, New York, Arizona, and Connecticut as of early 2026.

The committee reported the bill from committee with individual recommendations and the attached fiscal notes. The motion to report the bill granted legislative legal the authority to make technical and conforming changes when incorporating the conceptual amendment. Representative Andrew Gray sponsors House Bill 110.