Bill Text: WV HB4020 | 2020 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Removing authority of municipalities to require occupational licensure if licensure for the occupation is required by the state
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 11-0)
Status: (Passed) 2020-04-15 - Chapter 244, Acts, Regular Session, 2020 [HB4020 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2020-HB4020-Enrolled.html
WEST virginia legislature
2020 regular session
ENROLLED
Committee Substitute
for
House Bill 4020
By Delegates Foster, Phillips, Jennings, Atkinson, Bibby, Steele, Butler, Waxman, Espinosa, Porterfield and Mandt
[Passed March 7, 2020; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §7-1-3tt; to amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated §8-12-20; and to amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated §30-1-25, all relating to prohibiting the regulation and licensing of occupations by local governments; declaring state authority to regulate trades, occupations, and professions; prohibiting regulation of occupations by county commissions; prohibiting municipalities from enacting or enforcing laws regulating trades, occupations, and professions; and preserving the authority of local governments to regulate certain projects, construction, and modifications.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
CHAPTER 7. COUNTY COMMISSIONS AND OFFICERS.
ARTICLE 1. COUNTY COMMISSIONS GENERALLY.
§7-1-3tt. Restriction on the regulation of trades, occupations, and professions.
Unless specifically authorized under this code, a county commission shall not enact, and shall not enforce, any law, ordinance, regulation, or rule, requiring the licensing, certification, or registration of any person or business in order to practice or conduct a trade, occupation, or profession within the jurisdiction of the county: Provided, That this section shall not limit the authority of a county to impose or levy per project fees upon development projects and other forms of capital improvement affecting the county and its government.
CHAPTER 8. MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS.
ARTICLE 12. GENERAL AND SPECIFIC POWERS, DUTIES AND ALLIED RELATIONS OF MUNICIPALITIES, GOVERNING BODIES AND MUNICIPAL OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES; SUITS AGAINST MUNICIPALITIES.
§8-12-20. Restriction on the regulation of trades, occupations, and professions.
Except as expressly provided by this code, neither a municipality nor the governing body of any municipality may, by ordinance or otherwise, enact or enforce any law, ordinance, regulation, or rule, requiring the licensing, certification, or registration of any person or business in order to practice or conduct a trade, occupation, or profession within the jurisdiction of the municipality. This section does not limit the authority of a municipality to regulate the repair, alteration, improvement, demolition or removal of buildings, structures, or of any equipment or part of a structure as provided in §8-12-14 and §8-12-16 of this code.
CHAPTER 30. PROFESSIONS AND OCCUPATIONS.
ARTICLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO ALL STATE BOARDS OF EXAMINATION OR REGISTRATION REFERRED TO IN CHAPTER.
§30-1-25. Primacy of state regulation of occupational practice.
The power to regulate occupations for the protection of the public is exclusively a function of the Legislature. A public body or political subdivision may only propose and administer the regulation of a trade, occupation, or profession – including, but not limited to, the issuance of a license, requirement of registration, or recognition of a certification – to the extent expressly authorized to do so under this code.
