Study committee proposed to consolidate state licensure boards into one department

• An Occupational Licensure Board Consolidation Study Committee could soon look at ways to streamline state government if lawmakers agree to the proposed measure.

The committee responsible for streamlining Mississippi government approved the creation of a study committee to examine consolidating scores of state licensure boards into one department.

The Senate Government Structure Committee unanimously approved SB 2673 on Tuesday, which would establish the Occupational Licensure Board Consolidation Study Committee.

Under the bill, the study committee would consist of the chairmen from the Senate Government Structure Committee and the House State Affairs Committee as well as chairmen from the House and Senate Accountability, Efficiency and Transparency Committees. In addition, five current members of different occupational licensure boards would be appointed by the governor to serve on the study committee along with two Senate appointees from the Lt. Governor and two House appointees from the Speaker.

The study committee came after a 1,121-page bill was put forward that sought to consolidate about 60 state licensing boards, ranging from architects to barbers to chiropractors to family therapists.

“We don’t know the answer, I don’t know the answer, nobody up here knows the answer to what is best and efficiency to save taxpayers’ dollars,” said State Senator Tyler McCaughn (R), the Senate committee chair. “Over the next year, I’d like us to work towards that.”

The study committee would hold hearings at the Capitol and issue a report to the Legislature before December 1.

“If we are going to tackle it, we are going to tackle it with all the information to determine what is best for the state,” McCaughn said of potentially consolidating the various boards into one state department which he had proposed as the Department of Occupational Licensure in the original bill.

Consolidating government agencies is a top priority for the Senate this legislative session. On several occasions before the start of the 2026 Session, Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann (R) spoke at length on the need to reduce bureaucracy and streamline state government.

Should it pass in the Senate and then in the House, lawmakers could get to work in the study committee by early summer.

In other business, the Senate Government Structure Committee also heard from State Senator Daniel Sparks (R) about creating an advisory council for apprenticeships as required by the U.S. Department of Labor. The council is to be created to receive federal funds specific to apprenticeship programs, he told his colleagues.

The committee then adopted a substitute for SB 2623 which passed.

Sparks explained that the Governor’s Office wants to have this apprenticeship program in place.

“After getting out of a certification program, there is a job awaiting that person, likely at a high-wage, high-demand job at a Mississippi business that would have gone through the apprenticeship process,” he said.