Signed by Governor Kay Ivey

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that authorizes a licensing process for out-of-state physician assistants in Alabama.

Highlights:

• Establishes Alabama’s membership in the Physician’s Assistant (PA) Licensure Compact for mutual recognition of qualifying licenses issued by other states in the compact (Sec. 1).

• Establishes requirements and licensing regulations for states participating in the compact (Sec. 3).

• Establishes requirements for licensees to exercise the compact privilege, including graduation from a PA program accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, Inc. (Sec. 4).

• Requires licensees applying for compact privilege to identify the participating state from which they are applying (Sec. 5).

• Specifies that a participating state in which a licensee is licensed shall have exclusive power to impose adverse action against such license (Sec. 6).

• Establishes the PA Licensure Compact Commission as a joint government agency and national administrative body made up of delegates from each participating state (Sec. 7).

• Requires the commission to develop and maintain a coordinated data and reporting system containing licensure, adverse action, and investigative information on all licensed PAs and applicants denied a license in participating states (Sec. 8).

• Requires the commission to make rules necessary for the purposes of the commission, and specifies that such rules have the force of law in participating states unless ruled invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction (Sec. 9).

• Establishes executive and judicial oversight of the compact in participating states (Sec. 10).

• Specifies that nothing in the compact prevents the enforcement of any other law of a participating state (Sec. 13).

• Specifies that this Act takes effect October 1, 2026 (Sec. 14).

Full Bill Text