The Michigan House today approved Rep. Annette Glenn’s plan to waive or prorate medical license fees charged during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.

The plan approved today would allow a wide variety of occupations to seek prorated fee reimbursements if their workplace was closed because of a state mandate. Specifically, Glenn’s measure deals with reimbursements for licenses in public health and health care – which could include nurses, mental health professionals, respiratory therapists and many others if they were not allowed to work during 2020. Other measures in the package would allow reimbursements for skilled trade licenses, food service and liquor licenses, and numerous other occupational licenses.

“Michigan is slowly but surely bouncing back from the pandemic, and this effort is one of the many ways the Legislature is assisting the recovery,” said Glenn, R-Midland. “It’s also a simple, common-sense step to ensure people aren’t forced to pay for state-issued licenses the state did not allow them to use.”

Many of the fee reimbursements would be prorated – for example, if a business was shut down for three months or 25 percent of the year, the license holder could seek proration or credit of 25 percent of the associated fee. A license holder paying $120 for an annual license in this example would instead be required to pay $90. The other $30 – if already paid – would be reimbursed through a credit when renewing their license for the next year.

“So many people are still struggling with the financial fallout of the pandemic – these measures will help,” Glenn said

House Bills 4557-61 advance to the Senate for further consideration.