The Montana Department of Labor & Industry’s Business Standards Division (BSD) held informational and listening sessions beginning in August 2022. MFDA staff was especially interested in what the Department planned and appeared on behalf of the Montana Funeral Directors Association.

What MFDA discovered was that, in connection with the Governor’s Red Tape Reduction Initiative, the Department explored new methods to work directly with stakeholders to bring effective reform regarding how licensing is administered and maintained in Montana. Their goal was to reduce regulations and costs to licensees, and they focused on three primary areas of reform:

Restructuring Board Governance

• Determine what professions are better managed as programs or through voluntary certification rather than investing in full board infrastructure
• Review where multiple boards may be combined
• Evaluate board composition for a number of appointees, terms of service, qualifications, and conflicts of interest in addition to standardizing these processes across all boards to promote additional efficiencies

Modernizing Licensing Laws (Title 37 of Montana State Statutes)

• Modernize and standardize language to reduce redundancies, ensure sound licensing practices, and remove obsolete language
• Review legal-technical language to minimize unnecessary red tape

Increasing License Mobility and Processing Efficiency

• Strengthen the Department’s ability to recognize licenses issued in another state when those licensing requirements are substantially equal to Montana’s requirements
• Expanding license exemptions for military spouses
• Address licensing delays created by fingerprint background checks
• Increase availability and duration of temporary licenses
• Standardize continuing education

The Department conducted more than a dozen stakeholder surveys in June and July, 2022 that asked licensees and other stakeholders their thoughts about the proposed governance changes. (The surveys are available to the public at https://boards.bsd.dli.mt.gov.)

The informational sessions allowed participants to learn how Montana’s licensing works. Participants were allowed to share their thoughts about how professional licensing administration and governance can be improved.

Conclusion

MFDA opposes the bill as written. Specifically, the association opposes the proposal prohibiting a board member on the Montana Board of Funeral Service from also serving on the Montana Funeral Directors Association board. This provision likely violates the First Amendment, as the state has no legitimate basis for prohibiting persons from associating with trade associations in order to serve on a regulatory board. MFDA requested that this provision be stricken from the legislation draft.

Additionally, MFDA opposes the provision of the draft legislation that takes the power of the purse away from the board members and gives it to the Department. This is a change in current law, and MFDA can find no good explanation for why it has been proposed. Boards are and should be independent decision-makers, keeping the proper role of the Department to administrative purposes. We believe this provision should be struck from the legislation.

The MFDA staff expressed willingness to work with the Department on revising and improving the draft legislation. We will keep you updated on what happens with the proposed changes and if our voice impacts the Department. If any of you would like additional information, please reach out to us. We will be happy to speak to you about any input you may have.