The House Finance Committee voted 8–2 May 17 to advance Senate Bill 137, which would extend the statutory authorization of four state boards: the Board of Certified Direct‑Entry Midwives, the Board of Nursing, the Board of Veterinary Examiners and the Board of Parole. The committee heard the 2024 legislative audit findings and discussed staffing, licensing timeliness and long‑term costs before advancing the bill with attached fiscal notes.

Legislative Auditor Chris Curtis summarized each board’s audit. For veterinary examiners, the audit concluded the board served the public interest but noted timeliness problems in investigations, two board members with expired terms and one long‑vacant seat; the audit recommended a six‑year extension and three administrative improvements including better board review of regulations and improved investigator recruitment and retention. As of Jan. 2024 the veterinary board had 716 active licenses.

The board of parole audit raised the most policy questions. The report found the Parole Board continued to carry positions and staff funded during a 2017 criminal justice reform push (SB91) even after much of that reform was repealed in 2019 (HB49), with an apparent return of discretionary hearings to pre‑reform levels but with retained staffing that the audit questioned. The report showed the parole grant rate declined from an average of 63 percent before 2017 to about 25 percent after 2020; the board could not provide an explanation for the decline. The audit recommended a four‑year extension for parole (half of the maximum eight years allowed by statute) and urged the Department of Corrections and the board to ensure hearings preserve confidentiality and to update regulations that have not reflected statutory change.

The nursing board audit found the board generally served the public interest but that licensing timeliness suffered in some cases: the auditors found about 30 percent of reviewed nursing license actions took more than four months to process, driven in part by vacancy and turnover issues after license volume grew roughly 37 percent since the prior audit to over 27,000 active licenses. Auditors recommended improving investigator recruitment and training to reduce investigation delays.

The certified direct‑entry midwives board audit found the board generally met public‑safety objectives but that certification costs had risen after the board required national certified professional midwife credentialing (NARM) beginning in 2023; the board was urged to improve documentation and timeliness of certification audits and to recruit applicants for vacant board seats. As of Jan. 2024 the board had 41 certified midwives.

Two fiscal notes were attached: Department of Commerce (licensing costs for board administration) and Department of Corrections (Parole Board personnel and operating costs). The Commerce fiscal note reflected amounts already included in the governor’s FY26 request (about $67,700 in operating costs allocated across the boards). The Parole Board fiscal note reflected personnel and operating costs already in the governor’s request, roughly $1.18 million in personal services and a total operating cost of about $1.0–1.1 million (general fund) for nine full‑time positions.

Representative Hennen moved to advance the committee substitute for SB137; the motion passed 8–2 and the committee asked agency staff to follow through on audit recommendations.