Maryland Business Litigation Lawyer Blog
Two pieces of Maryland legislation affecting licensed professionals took effect on June 1, 2026. One significantly expands the criminal background check requirements across healthcare professions; the other preserves a different set of occupational licensing boards from sunset for another seven years. For licensed Maryland professionals across both groups, the practical consequences are immediate.
What HB1420 Does — Criminal History Records Checks for Health Occupations
HB1420 establishes and alters criminal history records check (CHRC) requirements for a broad range of health occupations boards. The bill unanimously passed the Maryland House and Senate, and took effect on June 1, 2026. The full text is available on the Maryland General Assembly’s bill detail page and the chapter text is linked here.
The bill standardizes CHRC requirements across the following boards:
- State Board of Acupuncture
- State Board of Dental Examiners
- State Board of Morticians and Funeral Directors
- State Board of Nursing
- State Board of Examiners in Optometry
- State Board of Pharmacy
- State Board of Physical Therapy Examiners
- State Board of Examiners of Psychologists
The bill also impacts other practitioners — dietitians, nutritionists, environmental health specialists, and podiatrists — who flow from the bill’s coverage of related licensing agencies. The good news is that fingerprint-based state and federal criminal background checks are now standardized across this swath of healthcare practice. \
What does this mean if you are a licensed clinician in any of the affected categories?
First, when does the CHRC obligation attach to your specific license — at initial licensure, at reinstatement, at renewal, or at some combination of those? The answer varies by board, and the new statutory framework should be read against each board’s existing regulations.
Second, what triggers a reportable criminal matter under the new framework, and how does the board treat dispositions that are not convictions — including Probation Before Judgment?
Third, what happens if a CHRC turns up criminal history the licensee did not disclose on the application? Non-disclosure has long been treated by Maryland licensing boards as a separate basis for discipline, and the expansion of CHRC requirements increases the likelihood that undisclosed prior criminal record will surface.
These are not abstract questions. They are the questions licensed professionals call me about most often after a DUI, a misdemeanor charge, or, potentially, a years-old matter the licensee believed was put away long ago. The expanded CHRC framework increases the likelihood of these conversations.
What HB0241 Does — Sunset Extensions for Occupational Licensing Boards
HB0241 extends several state occupational licensing boards that would otherwise have terminated under Maryland’s Program Evaluation Act (the sunset law). The bill, effective June 1, 2026, extends to July 1, 2032 the termination dates for the following boards:
- State Board of Barbers, the State Board of Cosmetologists
- State Board for Professional Land Surveyors,
- State Commission of Real Estate Appraisers, Appraisal Management Companies, and Home Inspectors
- State Board of Individual Tax Preparers
The bill also requires the Maryland Department of Labor to report back to the General Assembly by July 1, 2030, ahead of the next sunset review cycle. The full text is available here and the chapter text is linked here.
For licensees regulated by these boards, the practical consequence of HB0241 is continuity. The boards remain in place. The licensing requirements, the disciplinary process, and the existing regulatory framework all continue without interruption. The longer-cycle consequence is that the Department of Labor’s 2030 report will set the stage for the next round of debate over whether these professions should remain individually regulated, consolidated, or restructured. Licensees in these professions should be paying attention to that conversation when it begins; the structure of the regulatory environment they operate in is not permanent.
Why Both Laws Matter for Defense and Licensing Strategy
Together, the two laws illuminate a pattern I see across the licensed professional client base: Maryland regulates more professions, more uniformly, with more access to criminal background information, and with longer-term regulatory infrastructure than most licensees realize. For a licensed professional facing a criminal matter, it raises awareness to how the criminal case should be handled.
A few practical points worth flagging:
Probation Before Judgment (PBJ) is not invisible to the board. PBJ is not a criminal conviction under Maryland law, but most board applications and renewal questions explicitly capture pleas and PBJ dispositions. With the expanded CHRC framework, the board’s ability to verify a licensee’s criminal history via fingerprinting, and the cost of non-disclosure on the application is higher than it was a year ago.
The criminal defense strategy and the licensing strategy are one analysis, not two. A standard DUI defense optimizes for the criminal outcome. For a clinician facing a DUI, the analysis must integrate the board reporting consequences from the first conversation. The right plea in District Court is not always the right plea before the licensing board, and the difference can allow the licensee to keep her practice.
Old matters can resurface. Standardized CHRC means a criminal matter from years ago can surface at the next renewal or reinstatement cycle in a way it may not have previously. Licensees who took a PBJ on a long-resolved case and never thought about it again may find themselves needing to address it now. Expungement and post-conviction analysis can sometimes resolve the problem but every situation requires specialized legal analysis to get the right answer.
If You Are Affected
If you are a Maryland-licensed healthcare professional or any of the other professionals affected by the changes in Maryland professional licensing law, the right time to think about how these laws affect you is before a criminal matter arises — not after. Our firm regularly handles the intersection of Maryland criminal defense and professional licensing matters across the Mid-Atlantic region. Kurt Nachtman is a partner at Silverman Thompson, Slutkin & White admitted in Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Consultations are confidential and free. Contact 443.909.7490 or kurt@silvermanthompson.com
A final caveat. Maryland licensing boards each maintain their own regulations governing how CHRC results are treated, what disclosures are required at renewal, and what dispositions count for reporting. The text of HB1420 sets the floor; each board’s regulations build on it. Licensed professionals should verify the specific requirements of their own board against the new statutory framework and consult counsel before making disclosure or plea decisions that affect both their criminal case and their license.