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SB 815

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2025 Regular Session

SB 815 limits how licensing boards use criminal history in decisions, requiring individualized evaluation and limiting denial of licenses unless linked to the license or public saf

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Bill Summary · SB 815

SB 815 — Occupational Licensing and Certification: Criminal History — Prohibited Disclosures

Status: Hearing 3/26 at 1:00 p.m.
Introduced: February 2025 (bill text and committee activity in early 2025)
Effective date (as enacted in later versions): October 1, 2025 (where noted)

Purpose

SB 815 restricts how a licensing authority may use an applicant’s criminal history when deciding whether to grant an occupational license or certificate. The bill aims to reduce unnecessary barriers to licensure for people with criminal records by (1) prohibiting certain disclosure requirements on applications and (2) narrowing the circumstances in which a license may be denied solely because of a prior conviction.

Key provisions

  • Scope (as amended): Applies to specified units within the Maryland Department of Labor — specifically the State Board of Barbers and the State Board of Cosmetologists (later committee versions also referenced applying to MD Labor more broadly before narrowing).
  • Prohibited application disclosures: The Department may not require applicants to disclose, as part of the application, items including (summary list):
    • deferred adjudication, diversion program participation, or arrests not resulting in conviction;
    • convictions for which no term of imprisonment may be imposed;
    • convictions that have been sealed, vacated, dismissed, expunged, or pardoned;
    • juvenile adjudications;
    • misdemeanors that did not involve physical harm;
    • convictions for which 3 years have passed since completion of sentence (if no imprisonment) or 3 years since end of imprisonment (with exceptions for serious offenses).
  • Denial standard: An occupational license may not be denied solely because of a prior conviction unless the licensing unit determines either:
    • there is a direct relationship between the prior conviction and the specific license sought; or
    • issuance would involve a direct and substantial threat to public safety, specific individuals, or property (strengthening/clarifying the risk standard compared to prior statutory language).
  • Required consideration factors: When assessing fitness, the board must consider existing factors (duties of the license, seriousness and age of offense, time elapsed, rehabilitation information, State policy encouraging ex‑offender employment, etc.) and adds:
    • the applicant’s education, training, and employment history before, during, and after any term of imprisonment; and
    • whether the license requires the applicant to be bonded.
  • Seven‑year protection and sex‑offender exception: Retains rule that if 7+ years have passed since completing sentence (with no intervening charges other than minor traffic), the department may not deny based solely on the conviction; does not apply to convictions requiring sex‑offender registration.

Who is affected

  • Primary: Applicants for barbering and cosmetology licenses (as amended); earlier drafts contemplated broader application within several state departments.
  • Secondary: Employers and small businesses that rely on licensed workers (fiscal note indicates potential meaningful benefit for small businesses through expanded labor pool).

Fiscal and administrative impact

  • Department of Legislative Services fiscal note: No material effect on State or local government finances or operations is expected. Small businesses may be meaningfully affected (positive) by increased access to licensed workers.

Procedural / timeline notes

  • Bill advanced through committee with amendments and was scheduled/heard in late March (3/26) hearings and subsequent committee actions. Some versions show further committee referrals and enrollment steps; effective date cited in later drafts is October 1, 2025.

Practical implications

  • Limits the scope of criminal-history questions on certain licensing applications and requires licensing units to evaluate convictions with a more individualized, evidence-based approach.
  • Intends to facilitate reentry and employment for people with criminal records while preserving public-safety exceptions for directly related or substantially threatening convictions.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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