The Department of Licensing will be updating their systems, and doing so will disrupt some licensing services for over a week.

In a release, the DOL says that they are replacing the software system used to issue and manage business and professional licenses. 

They say that in order to ensure a successful transition to the new system they will need to shut down some software systems and operations from June 19 thru June 28. 

During the outage, they will be unable to process any license applications or renewals. 

“This will give us the time to prepare and test the new system before we release it to customers and business partners.” 

The DOL system shutdown will impact most types of professional licenses, including Tattoo, Body Piercing, Body Art, Permanent Cosmetic Artists and Artist Shops 

“We understand that a system outage is inconvenient. However, we expect the impact to your operations to be minimal.”

Starting June 29, 2020, businesses will have access to the new Professional and Business Licensing service to manage their license online.

Using the new service means “faster license processing and better security to protect your personal information”. 

Our new system will let you:

•       Apply for a license
•       Renew a license
•       Pay license fees using secure online payment options 
•       Self-print your license
•       Update your account information

Other changes:

•       New license design. With a new system comes a new license design. Currently Artist Operators are issued professional licenses that may have endorsements for similar artist professions on the same license. These licenses share the same license number.

In the new system, artist professions and endorsements will have their own license number. These licenses will still print on one license document.

For currently issued licenses and endorsements, the license number will be the same as they are now. For licenses issued in the new system, they will receive different license numbers.

•       Email renewal reminders. If you have an email on file with us, you’ll receive your renewal reminder electronically. If we don’t have your email address, we’ll mail your reminder. Reminders will no longer include your fees. The fastest way to renew your license, will be to manage your license through our new Business and Professional licensing system.
•       Secure access to your licensing information. All users will need their own login to access the new Business and Professional service. This extra security means only you have access to personal information connected to your license. You should not share your login with anyone. On June 29th visit https://www.dol.wa.gov/business/accountaccess.html for instructions on how to set up your login. Don’t set up your login prior to June 29th, waiting until after June 29th will help with a smoother transition to the new system.
•       Web pages and forms. Many of our webpages and forms were changed to align with new system functionality. You should discard any forms you have saved to your computer or printed and obtain up to date forms or information from dol.wa.gov.