Dear Idaho OT Practitioners,
Earlier this year, the IOTA was contacted by the Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses, or DOPL, Occupational Therapy Licensure Board, regarding Governor Brad Little’s Executive Order for Zero-Based Regulation as part of his Red Tape Reduction Act, with the goal of ‘’identifying and eliminating costly, ineffective, and outdated regulations’’ for Idaho licensed professionals. The Occupational Therapy Licensure Board was one of many professional licensure groups tasked with updating and streamlining their current rule chapter.
The IOTA worked closely with the Executive Officer for the Occupational Therapy Licensure Board, Katie Stuart, to have dedicated meetings to voice concerns and make recommendations to these proposed OT licensure rule changes. OT practitioners were also invited to open virtual and in-person forums in spring and summer to make comments on the current licensure rules. We were then notified that the draft of the proposed licensure rule changes would be available to the public and OT practitioners to provide public comment August 2023.
Following this period, the proposed rule changes went before the OT Licensure Board on August 25th, 2023, with no additional public comment being made on the proposed rule changes. A motion was then made and seconded to adopt as pending the proposed rule chapter of the State Occupational Therapy Licensure Board, IDAPA 24.06.01.
This pending updated rule chapter will be put forth to the Idaho State legislature during the 2024 legislative season. Please review the PDFs of the Zero-Based Regulation executive order, and the pending licensure rule changes with also the original licensure rules struck out to demonstrate the changes and edits that are now pending.
The next Idaho DOPL Idaho OT Licensure Board meeting is yet to be scheduled. We as an Association will continue to monitor the pending licensure rules and progress through the legislature and will continue to work closely with the OT Licensure Board.
Regards,
The Idaho OT Association