Representative Dave Hickernell
98th District
Media Contact: Charles Lardner
717.260.6443
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 2, 2019
Hickernell Takes Helm of House Professional Licensure Committee
HARRISBURG — Rep. Dave Hickernell (R-Lancaster/Dauphin) will begin his ninth term in office as the newly appointed chairman of the Pennsylvania House Professional Licensure Committee.
“Having served on the Professional Licensure Committee for nearly a decade, not only am I honored to receive this appointment for the upcoming session, I really enjoy the issues the committee deals with and the nature of the bills we consider,” said Hickernell. “I look forward to the work of helping to craft and advance legislation that will ensure occupational professionals are properly licensed in order to maintain the highest standards of excellence and deliver the best level of service for the citizens of Pennsylvania.”
The House Professional Licensure Committee is a very important panel for business and commerce within the Commonwealth. It maintains jurisdiction over all legislation dealing with the 29 professional and occupational licensing boards located administratively in the Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs (BPOA) in the Department of State. Professionals range from physicians and cosmetologists to real estate agents and funeral directors.
“The Professional Licensure Committee often does not get a lot of attention in the media, but it oversees some of the most important professions and services in our state – medicine, dentistry, pharmacies, veterinary medicine, real estate and engineering,” Hickernell said.
Now in his third term as a majority chairman – he chaired the House Tourism Committee from 2015 to 2016, and the House Education Committee from 2017 to 2018 – Hickernell said he is pleased that the Speaker honored his request to chair Professional Licensure for the 2019-20 session.
“I had asked for this chairmanship in the prior session, but the Speaker asked me to guide the Education Committee through a number of pending issues in the 2017-18 session and I was glad to do so,” Hickernell said. “I also believe my tenure as chair of the Tourism and Education committees have prepared me to lead a committee that has many complex issues before it. I am eager to get started.”
Hickernell has served as a member of the House Professional Licensure Committee since 2010.
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