SHARE Act supporting OT licensure compacts moves in committee
On June 25th, the House Education and Workforce Committee voted to advance H.R. 2332, the States Handling Access to Reciprocity for Employment (SHARE), by a vote of 33-0. AOTA helped introduce the SHARE Act to remove current barriers that some states face in joining the Occupational Therapy (OT) Licensure Compact.
The SHARE Act makes a technical correction to existing law to allow state licensing or certification entities to share confirmation that a criminal background check has been completed with the interstate compact commission. Under current law, states must establish partnerships with law enforcement and the FBI to conduct background checks for new applicants participating in a compact. This requirement can slow down implementation and participation and has been a barrier in many states and for multiple different licensure compacts.
Fixing this technicality would expedite the ability of certain states to join the OT compact, increasing access to care, particularly in underserved and rural areas, while preserving states’ authority to determine eligibility.
The bill must still be voted on by the full House and the Senate to become law. One way to help make that happen is by building co-sponsors for the legislation to show that there is support in Congress for the bill. You can write to your Members of Congress and ask them to co-sponsor the SHARE Act.