SB 412

This bill ratifies and enters Wisconsin into the Occupational Therapy Licensure

Compact (compact), which provides for the ability of an occupational therapist or

occupational therapy assistant licensed in one member state (licensee) to obtain a

“compact privilege” to practice in a remote state without obtaining a license in that

remote state. Significant provisions of the compact include:

1. The creation of a Occupational Therapy Compact Commission (commission),

which includes one member or representative of the licensure boards of each member

state. The compact grants various powers and duties to the commission, including

overseeing the administration of the compact, enforcing the compact, adopting

bylaws, promulgating binding rules for the compact, establishing an executive

committee, and employing officers and employees. The commission may levy on and

collect an annual assessment from each member state or impose fees on other parties

to cover the cost of the operations and activities of the commission and its staff.

2. A process whereby a licensee may obtain a compact privilege to practice in

another member state. A licensee's primary state of residence is considered to be his

or her home state, and any other member state in which the licensee seeks to practice

is considered a remote state. A licensee providing occupational therapy in a remote

state under a compact privilege is subject to that state's regulatory authority. A

remote state may take action against a licensee's compact privilege in the remote

state, and the licensee is then not eligible for a compact privilege in any state until

certain criteria are met. If a licensee's compact privilege in any remote state is

removed, the individual may lose his or her compact privilege in any remote state

until certain criteria are met. However, a home state has the exclusive power to

impose adverse action against a license issued by the home state. If a home state

license is encumbered (i.e., suspended), the licensee's compact privilege in any

remote state is deactivated until all encumbrances have been removed from the

home state license. Member states may charge a fee for granting a compact privilege

and may impose a jurisprudence requirement for granting a compact privilege that

assesses an individual's knowledge of the laws and rules governing the practice of

occupational therapy in a particular state.

3. The ability for member boards to conduct joint investigations of licensees and

the ability of member states to issue subpoenas that are enforceable in other states.

4. The creation of a coordinated database and reporting system containing

licensure, adverse action, and investigative information on all licensed individuals

in member states. A member state must submit a uniform data set to the data system

on all individuals to whom this compact is applicable as required by the rules of the

commission.

5. Various provisions regarding resolutions of disputes between the

commission and member states and between member and nonmember states,

including a process for termination of a state's membership in the compact if the state