PROVIDENCE — A person convicted of a violent crime generally would be ineligible to work as a bouncer at a bar or nightclub in the city under potential licensing rules suggested by the administration of Mayor David N. Cicilline.

And someone with a criminal record for drug peddling or weapons possession or a generally less violent offense that is not a felony would be subject to review and exclusion from work under a proposed bouncer-licensing law.

The city is moving to tighten its oversight of bouncers, by requiring them to be screened, trained and licensed. Currently, they are required to merely register with the police and the city Board of Licenses.

The move is a proposal of the Hospitality Resource Partnership, a coalition of city government, Downtown Neighborhood Alliance, Providence Downtown Improvement District and other stakeholders in the area.

It arises from a conclusion of the coalition that the city must do more to rein in bouncers who are bullies and to upgrade and professionalize that occupation for the sake of polishing the city’s reputation with residents and visitors. Bouncers would be called “floor hosts” under the proposed licensing law, to reflect their new respectability.

The council Thursday gave the required second vote of approval of the licensing law, which would be enacted as soon as the mayor signs it or allows it to become law without his signature.

Rulemaking on the eligibility of ex-convicts and other licensing issues would be delegated to the license board. There is an understanding, however, between Andrew J. Annaldo, board chairman, and a couple of council members that he will consult with the council on the draft rules prior to adoption.

Advocates, including Councilman Luis Aponte, of the needs of ex-convicts are especially sensitive to the licensing because the job of bouncer is one of the relative few that someone right out of prison can do for gainful employment. Aponte, one of the authors of the current bouncer registration requirement, said he is concerned about the fairness of a standard to be applied to those with convictions as well as the possible ambiguity of rules for any would-be bouncer.

Over the last five years, at least 35 bouncers have been implicated in on-the-job assaults citywide, according to the police. Bouncers suffer, too, in altercations with intoxicated customers. In the last three months, for example, two bouncers were stabbed in downtown nightspots.

Councilman John J. Lombardi recalled that one bar proprietor informed him that one of his better employees is a convicted felon.

“We all know people who have turned their lives around,” the councilman said.

As a lawyer, however, Lombardi said that he would have cautioned that owner that hiring such a person would create for the owner potential exposure to civil liability.

The Cicilline administration, in a policy paper listing possible procedures for reviewing the background of a would-be bouncer, said “all applicants will be given due consideration and due process” and all applications will be reviewed one by one even if an applicant has been convicted of murder.

A list of criminal convictions that would call for automatic disqualification might include, the administration said, homicide; robbery; rape; assault with a dangerous weapon; arson; any crime that was pleaded down from those alleged crimes; crimes related to pedophilia, child abuse or child pornography; crimes related to prostitution, pimping or pandering; or convictions for multiple alcohol or violent incidents within three years.

The policy paper goes on to state that even those offenses would be reviewable and that an applicant should be given an opportunity to explain the circumstances of the crime, and to cite his or her experience since conviction, the completion of any court-ordered programs, compliance with any conditions of release from incarceration, and post-conviction work history. Affidavits in support of or in opposition to an applicant also should be weighed, the administration suggested.

A potential list of non-felony convictions that might trigger an automatic review prior to a license’s being issued might include: narcotics sales, spousal abuse, a weapons charge, sexual assault, use of false identification, assault of a law enforcement authority, and having worked in security at a liquor-licensed establishment without the required licensing as a floor host.

In order to detect situations in which a licensed floor host is charged with or convicted of a crime, the administration suggested periodically redoing the criminal background check of each licensed individual.

gsmith@projo.com