This bill makes various changes to present law concerning regulatory boards and regulated groups as follows:

      (1)  Makes technical clarifications by deleting anachronistic provisions;

      (2)  Abolishes the board of court reporting and transfer's the board's duties to the commissioner of commerce and insurance, or the commissioner's designee;

      (3)  In the event of a vacancy on TACIR, requires that the vacancy be filled for the period of the unexpired term rather than appointing a replacement to a full four-year term;

      (4)  Increases the time within which a person who is appointed to the Tennessee education lottery corporation board of directors while the general assembly is out of session must be confirmed from within 30 days of the reconvening of the general assembly to within 90 days of the reconvening;

      (5)  Revises the process for governing bodies of a board, agency, or commission of state government to participate in meetings by electronic means, as described in the full text of this bill;

      (6)  Exempts from licensure requirements under the Mental Health, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and/or Treatment and Personal Support Services Licensure Law facilities that are operated for the provision of the Employment and Community First CHOICES program and services for comprehensive behavioral supports for employment and community living for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities and severe behavioral or psychiatric conditions or any successor program, service, or a home and community-based services waiver approved by the centers for medicare and medicaid services pursuant to federal law;

      (7)  Requires that, following the expiration of terms for members appointed prior to July 1, 2025, the terms of office for appointees to the POST commission begin on July 1 and terminate on June 30 of the appropriate years;

      (8)  Expands present law authorization for the department of disability and aging to license services and facilities operated for the provision of disability services and for personal support services by also authorizing the department to license services and facilities for the provision of the Employment and Community First CHOICES program and services for comprehensive behavioral supports for employment and community living for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities and severe behavioral or psychiatric conditions or any successor program, service, or a home and community-based services waiver approved by the centers for medicare & medicaid services pursuant federal law;

      (9)  Reduces from six to three years the terms of gubernatorial appointees to the commission on aging and disability for persons appointed on or after July 1, 2025;

      (10)  Requires that three persons from each grand division, rather than one person from each congressional district, be appointed to the Tennessee motor vehicle commission;

      (11)  Revises various requirements related to obtaining a certificate as a certified public accountant, as identified and described in Sections 31 – 39 of this bill;

      (12)  Replaces annual inspections of barber schools and colleges with authorization for the board of cosmetology and barber examiners to determine the frequency of the inspections, and allows issuance of a certificate of registration as a master barber without examination to a Tennessee resident under the same conditions as a nonresident may be issued such certificate without an examination under present law;

      (13)  Authorizes appointment to the board of cosmetology and barber examiners of a cosmetologist who practices manicuring, aesthetics, or natural hair styling, in lieu of a manicurist, aesthetician, or natural hair stylist, respectively.  This bill also replaces annual inspections of schools of cosmetology, cosmetology shops, manicure shops, skin care shops, natural hair styling shops, and eyelash services shops with authorization for the board to determine the frequency of the inspections;

      (14)  Removes the requirement that appointees to the board of funeral directors and embalmers must sit out a term before being eligible for reappointment to the board;

      (15)  Deletes requirements that the state board for licensing contractors and Tennessee real estate commission meet in each grand division at least once each year;

      (16)  Extends the time that a person has to apply for a real estate broker's or affiliate broker's license following passage of the respective examination before being required to retest from six months to two years, and authorizes the commission to waive this requirement;

      (17)  Authorizes an option to the requirement that a person who seeks reinstatement of a real estate license that lapsed due to nonpayment of a renewal fee during a period of temporary retirement complete all classroom hours that would have been required during the period of temporary retirement.  Under this bill, a person could instead complete a commission-approved course consisting of 30 hours of continuing education.  This bill caps the fee for reinstating a real estate license after failure to pay the renewal or retirement fee at $1,200.  This bill authorizes a licensee in good standing with the commission, whose license has been expired for more than two years but has not been temporarily retired, to reactivate the license upon payment of the $1,200 penalty completion of a commission-approved course consisting of 30 hours of continuing education;

      (18)  Deletes the Soil Scientist Licensure Act of 2009, which is presently administered by the commissioner of commerce and insurance;

      (19)  Authorizes any board-run, commission-run, or commissioner-run program in the division of regulatory boards of the department of commerce and insurance that issues a license to enter into reciprocal agreements with appropriate officials in other jurisdictions to grant licenses to persons or entities licensed in the other jurisdictions who possess sufficient qualifications as established by the regulatory authority of this state to operate across state lines under mutually acceptable terms;

      (20)  Extends from three to five years the terms of members of the board of dentistry, effective July 1, 2025;

      (21)  Replaces authorization for the following boards to appoint a member to fill a vacancy under various circumstances, thereby requiring that all vacancies be filled by gubernatorial appointments:  the board of dentistry; the board of medical examiners; the board of optometry; the board of dispensing opticians; and the board of respiratory care;

      (22)  Removes the requirement that appointees to a full four-year term on the Tennessee athletic commission must sit out a year before being eligible for reappointment to the board; and

      (23)  Specifies that members serving on the Tennessee fish and wildlife commission on February 28, 2026, continue to serve until June 30, 2026.