Legislature(2025 - 2026)
2026-05-19 Senate Journal
Full Journal pdf2026-05-19 Senate Journal Page 2779 HB 173 CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 173(L&C) "An Act relating to occupational therapist licensure; relating to occupational therapy assistant licensure; and relating to an occupational therapist licensure compact" was read the second time. 2026-05-19 Senate Journal Page 2780 Senator Hoffman, Cochair, moved and asked unanimous consent for the adoption of the Finance Senate Committee Substitute offered on page 2593. Without objection, SENATE CS FOR CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 173(FIN) "An Act relating to occupational therapist licensure; relating to occupational therapy assistant licensure; relating to an occupational therapist licensure compact; relating to an executive administrator for the State Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Board; relating to physical therapist licensure; relating to physical therapist assistant licensure; relating to audiologist licensure; relating to speech-language pathologist licensure; and relating to national criminal history record checks" was adopted. Senator Bjorkman offered Amendment No. 1 : Page 3, following line 30: Insert a new bill section to read: "* Sec. 6. AS 08.84 is amended by adding a new section to read: Sec. 08.84.095. Scope of practice for occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants. (a) An occupational therapist may provide occupational therapy to a person whose ability or opportunity to participate in activities of daily living, play, leisure, or an occupation is or may be limited or restricted because the person has or is at risk of having an injury, disorder, impairment, or disability that limits or restricts the person's ability to engage in an occupation or other goal-oriented task or activity. The therapist may evaluate, analyze, and diagnose the cause of the limitation or restriction and intervene with occupational therapy to decrease or eliminate the cause, help the person recover from or adjust to the limitation or restriction, and restore the person's ability to engage in an occupation or other goal-oriented task or activity. (b) An occupational therapist may initiate and provide occupational therapy, including therapy under (c) of this section, without a referral from another provider of health care services. (c) The services an occupational therapist may provide to a person include (1) treating a person's pain; (2) habilitating, rehabilitating, and working with a person to adjust physical, neuromusculoskeletal, cognitive, psychosocial, sensory- perceptive, visual, or other aspects of performance in a variety of contexts to improve or maintain the person's ability to engage in an 2026-05-19 Senate Journal Page 2781 occupation or other goal-oriented task or activity, regardless of the person's ability-related needs; (3) evaluating and treating a person to promote, enhance, or restore the person's ability to safely perform activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living and safely engage in sleep, rest, education, work, play, leisure, health management, and social participation; (4) administering, evaluating, and interpreting tests and measurements of a person's bodily functions and structures; (5) establishing, remediating, preventing, or compensating for a barrier to a person's performance skills; in this paragraph, a barrier to a person's performance skills may include the person's bodily structures and functions, habits, routines, roles, environmental and personal factors, and physical, neuromusculoskeletal, cognitive, psychosocial, sensory perception, communication, interaction, and pain management skills; (6) managing a person's ability to eat, feed themselves, or swallow to improve or maintain eating and feeding performance; (7) designing, fabricating, applying, or ?tting assistive technology or an adaptive or orthotic device; (8) training a person to (A) use assistive technology or an adaptive, orthotic, or prosthetic device; and (B) manage the person's seating and positioning; (9) adapting environments and assessing, recommending, and training a person on the techniques the person may use to enhance the person's functional and community mobility; (10) preventing pain and dysfunction, restoring function, or reversing or arresting the progression of a pathology; (11) applying an adjunctive intervention or therapeutic procedure to prepare for or use with occupation-based activities; in this paragraph, "adjunctive intervention or therapeutic procedure" includes a thermal, mechanical, electrophysical, or instrument-assisted treatment modality, wound care, and manual therapy; and (12) promoting a person's good physical and mental health and wellness, regardless of the person's ability-related needs. (d) An occupational therapist may allow an occupational therapy assistant to assist with or administer occupational therapy that the occupational therapy assistant is professionally competent to assist with or administer, including assessing a patient in an evaluation 2026-05-19 Senate Journal Page 2782 delegated to the occupational therapy assistant and preparing reports on the assessment for the occupational therapist. The occupational therapist shall supervise the occupational therapy assistant when acting under this subsection. (e) In this section, "health" means a person's physical or mental health." Renumber the following bill sections accordingly. Page 29, following line 3: Insert new bill sections to read: "* Sec. 9. AS 08.84.190(3) is amended to read: (3) "occupational therapy" means [, FOR COMPENSATION,] the use of purposeful activity, evaluation, treatment, and consultation with persons [HUMAN BEINGS] whose ability to cope with the tasks of daily living are threatened with [,] or impaired by developmental deficits, learning disabilities, aging, poverty, cultural differences, physical injury or illness, or psychological and social disabilities to maximize independence, prevent disability, and maintain health; ["OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY" INCLUDES (A) DEVELOPING DAILY LIVING, PLAY, LEISURE, SOCIAL, AND DEVELOPMENTAL SKILLS; (B) FACILITATING PERCEPTUAL-MOTOR AND SENSORY INTERGRATIVE FUNCTIONING; (C) ENHANCING FUNCTIONAL PERFORMANCE, PREVOCATIONAL SKILLS, AND WORK CAPABILITIES USING SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED EXERCISES, THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITIES AND MEASURES, MANUAL INTERVENTION, AND APPLIANCES; (D) DESIGN, FABRICATION, AND APPLICATION OF SPLINTS OR SELECTIVE ADAPTIVE EQUIPMENT; (E) ADMINISTERING AND INTERPRETING STANDARDIZED AND NONSTANDARDIZED ASSESSMENTS, INCLUDING SENSORY, MANUAL MUSCLE, AND RANGE OF MOTION ASSESSMENTS, NECESSARY FOR PLANNING EFFECTIVE TREATMENT; AND (F) ADAPTING ENVIRONMENTS FOR THE DISABLED;] * Sec. 10. AS 08.84.190(4) is amended to read: (4) "occupational therapy assistant" means a person who, [ASSISTS IN THE PRACTICE OF OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY] under the 2026-05-19 Senate Journal Page 2783 supervision of a licensed [AN] occupational therapist, administers or assists with administering occupational therapy; * Sec. 11. AS 08.84.190 is amended by adding a new paragraph to read: (8) "test and measurement" includes imaging, electrodiagnostic and electrophysiological methods or techniques, and other methods or techniques generally accepted by the physical therapist or occupational therapist professions in the state for use in obtaining information about a patient in order to administer therapy." Renumber the following bill sections accordingly. Senator Bjorkman moved for the adoption of Amendment No. 1. Objections were heard and withdrawn. There being no further objection, Amendment No. 1 was adopted.