Committee backs H.472 to let Office of Professional Regulation charge new fees, directs further study

The House Ways & Means Committee on Wednesday voted to report H.472 favorably after hearing testimony on a package of changes that would let the Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) charge new fees for services, reestablish a previously removed electrology-shop license, add a disciplinary surcharge and fund a new mental-health executive officer.

The bill, which the committee voted out 10-1, would allow OPR to charge for data feeds to third parties, add or reinstate several targeted fees (including a $50 apprenticeship-application surcharge and a $100 specialty-endorsement application fee), and authorize a disciplinary-action surcharge and a higher maximum penalty for unauthorized practice.

The measure is intended to reduce pressure on OPR's budget, which Deputy Secretary of State Lauren Kippert said remains in deficit. "We're still at a $1,500,000 deficit," Kippert told the committee as she walked members through fee and policy changes in the bill. She said the office is seeking modest, targeted fees for services it now provides for free or at low cost and is collecting two years of cycle-based workload data to inform any future, broader restructuring.

Why it matters: OPR regulates dozens of professions and tens of thousands of licensees in the state; the bill would shift some costs to applicants and to disciplined licensees and generate fee revenue for the professional regulation fund. Ted Barnett of the Joint Fiscal Office presented a revenue table the committee used to weigh fiscal impacts: he estimated about $220,000 net additional fee revenue per year for the professional regulation fund, driven largely by specialty endorsements, and…