Montana Occupational Licensing for Service Members, Spouses and Veterans

Four sections of Title 37 chapter 1 work together, and each one uses "shall" rather than "may", which is unusual in this area. Military training counts. Section 37-1-145 requires each board and program, on satisfactory evidence from an applicant, to accept relevant education, training or service completed in the armed forces or reserves, or in a state's National Guard, military reserves or naval militia, toward the qualifications for the licence or certification. It does not say how much credit, and it does not create a waiver; it forbids a board from refusing to look. Reciprocity for a mover. Section 37-1-147 requires a board or program to issue a licence to a person who is licensed or certified in good standing in another state or a United States territory and who is a service member or the spouse of one, and who is under orders for a change of station to Montana, is in the process of that change, has been honorably discharged and relocated to Montana, or whose spouse is the subject of a military transfer to Montana. Where the other state's requirements are substantially equivalent, the board issues the licence. Where they are not, the board issues a temporary licence so the person can work while finishing whatever Montana requires. The one bar is a licence that is not in good standing, or pending charges or final discipline for unprofessional conduct or impairment. Deployment stops the meter. Section 37-1-146 requires the Department of Labor and Industry, on notice and proof of deployment to federally funded active duty for more than 90 consecutive days, to exempt the licensee from licence renewal and late renewal fees and from any continuing education or certification requirement or audit for a renewal cycle falling within the period of active duty and the six months after it. The six-month tail is the part worth remembering; a licensee does not come home to an immediate audit. Section 37-1-138 covers the older and more formal route for an activated reservist on orders of at least 90 consecutive days: the reservist may report the activation and ask that the licence revert to inactive status, and while it is inactive the board may not charge licensing or continuing education fees, may not require continuing education or reports of it, and may not revoke, suspend, forfeit or lapse the licence for failing to pay or to complete it. On release, the reservist sends the discharge documents in and the board evaluates the military position held, the duties performed and the time on active duty against the licensing requirements, and then fully restores the licence, attaches conditions, or suspends or revokes it. If conditions are attached or the licence is suspended or revoked, the reservist has 90 days to request a hearing in writing, and the board must hold it within 30 days. That last power is the one to read carefully. Section 37-1-138 is written as a protection, but subsection (4)(c) genuinely permits a board to come out of the review with a suspension. A reservist whose military duties were far from their civilian profession for a long deployment should expect the review rather than assume restoration, and should keep the hearing right in view.