House and Senate budget bills for multiple professional licensing boards drew detailed committee discussion May 16 as lawmakers weighed fee increases against the boards' regulatory obligations and recent technical problems with licensing vendors.

Representative Ruiz presented House Bill 50 18, the budget bill for the Board of Licensed Social Workers. Ruiz told the committee the subcommittee recommends a budget of $3,122,120 other funds and 9 positions. The Education Subcommittee recommended HB 50 18 be amended by the dash-1 amendment and reported out due pass as amended.

Mary Michelle Sosni of the Legislative Fiscal Office answered questions from lawmakers about the licensing system contractor. Sosni said, "Currently, their contract is month to month, and so they aren't pursuing any action right now, but they are actively looking into alternatives." That exchange followed committee references to contractor failures to meet requirements and increased costs for licensing-system repairs across multiple boards.

Lawmakers expressed competing views on fee policy. Senator Bonham said he was troubled by the growth of other funds and described many user fees and license revenues as effectively serving tax-like purposes: "A lot of my votes today will be predicated on that. I'm gonna object to a lot of these budgets and the underlying premises that we are taxing without calling it a tax." Representative Sanchez defended licensure as necessary consumer protection and said fees are the mechanism by which boards manage licensing and enforcement workloads.

Several boards discussed in the session included the Oregon Board of Pharmacy (House Bill 50 28), which the committee record shows would include a one-time $1.5 million expenditure limitation to update its licensing system and a proposed fee increase of 40%; the Board of Chiropractic Examiners, which implemented administrative fee increases in 2023 and 2024 and sought ratification; and a mental health regulatory agency grouping (board of licensed professional counselors and board of psychology) that proposed new complaint and investigator positions funded by licensure revenue.

The Education Subcommittee recommended each of these budget bills be amended by a dash-1 amendment and reported out due pass as amended. Committee discussion noted that several boards face revenue shortfalls that the subcommittees would address by one-time professional services or fee increases, and that without increases in the number of licensees many boards may need further fee increases in future biennia.

The work sessions on these boards were closed after the committee recorded the subcommittee recommendations and moved the bills forward.