Bill
HF 547
The bill creates a multistate Respiratory Care Interstate Compact allowing licensed respiratory therapists to practice in member states using a compact privilege, easing cross-stat
Note on materials provided
- The bill metadata you supplied (title: “Stewartville; 15th Avenue NE improvements funding provided, bonds issued, and money appropriated”) does not match the full text you attached. The attached document is H.F. 547 enacting a "Respiratory Care Interstate Compact" (a multistate licensing compact for respiratory therapists). Below I summarize the attached Respiratory Care Interstate Compact (H.F. 547). If you intended the Stewartville funding bill instead, please provide that text or confirm and I will summarize it separately.
Summary — Respiratory Care Interstate Compact (H.F. 547)
Purpose and intent
- Establishes a multistate interstate compact to facilitate the interstate practice of respiratory therapy.
- Goal: improve public access to respiratory therapy services, promote workforce mobility (including for military members and spouses), and streamline regulation while preserving each state’s authority to protect public health and safety.
Key provisions and structure
- Creates definitions for terms such as “compact privilege,” “home state,” “remote state,” “encumbered license,” “commission,” and others to standardize interoperability among member states.
- Compact privilege: a respiratory therapist who holds an active (non‑encumbered) home state license can obtain authorization to practice in other member (remote) states without separate licensure there, subject to remote state laws and scope-of-practice rules where the patient is located.
- Home state requirements: member states must license respiratory therapists and meet specified criteria (including criminal background checks at initial licensure and national board credentials).
- Establishes the Respiratory Care Interstate Compact Commission as an interstate governmental entity composed of member states; the commission will:
- Adopt bylaws and rules
- Create committees and an executive structure
- Manage finances, including dues and assessments
- Maintain a data system/repository of licensee information
- Coordinate enforcement, investigative information sharing, and disciplinary actions
- Adverse actions and enforcement: permits states to take adverse action (e.g., suspension, revocation, restrictions) and to share significant investigative information across member states.
- Preserves state regulatory authority: compact expressly preserves states’ power to license and regulate within their borders; when state laws conflict with the compact, compact provisions supersede to the extent of the conflict.
- Administrative provisions: addresses venue for judicial proceedings, defense/indemnification of commission personnel, rulemaking process, withdrawal, default, and expulsion of member states, and severability.
- Effectiveness: the compact becomes effective when adopted by the seventh participating state.
Who is affected
- Respiratory therapists: greater mobility to practice across member states via compact privileges; subject to data sharing and portability of disciplinary information.
- State respiratory therapy licensing authorities: must adopt statutes conforming to the compact and participate in the commission and data system.
- Employers and patients: increased access to respiratory care across member states, potential relief for workforce shortages.
- Military members and spouses: compact explicitly supports portability for relocating active-duty personnel and families.
Procedural/timeline notes
- The compact requires adoption by state legislatures; it becomes active nationally once seven states enact it.
- The legislative actions included with the document indicate the measure passed both chambers and was signed by the governor (dates listed in the record: House passage 3/12/2025; Senate passage 4/14/2025; Governor signed 4/25/2025) for the jurisdiction that enacted this text.
Potential impacts and considerations
- Pros: increases patient access to respiratory therapy services, facilitates telehealth and multistate practice, helps address workforce shortages, and eases licensure burdens for providers.
- Cons/risks: requires states to share investigative and licensure data; potential costs to join and to support the commission/data systems; states must reconcile existing laws with compact requirements; licensees with disciplinary encumbrances may be limited in portability.
If you want:
- A plain‑language explainer for respiratory therapists on how the compact changes licensure and practice;
- A state‑by‑state tracker of which states have enacted the compact; or
- A summary of the Stewartville 15th Avenue NE funding bill (the metadata you provided),
please tell me which and I will prepare it.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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