Committee hears OPR bill: new fees, massage-therapist testimony and proposed early childhood licensure

Legislative counsel Tim Devel and OPR staff presented the Senate Finance Committee with a miscellaneous regulatory bill that would change several professional fees, add staff and create a new licensing chapter for early childhood educators. Joint Fiscal Office staff provided preliminary budget estimates and representatives of the Vermont chapter of the American Massage Therapy Association urged fee reductions.

The bill includes fee changes across many regulated professions, a new executive-level position to coordinate regulation of mental health professions, and a separate, substantive section creating a four-tier early childhood educator licensure structure that would regulate individuals working in programs overseen by the Child Development Division (CDD).

Tim Devel said the OPR portion of the bill would authorize the agency to charge for certain data subscriptions, raise several flat fees (for example, verification of licensure and some renewal fees) and add a new $250 disciplinary surcharge to be assessed after findings of professional misconduct. The bill also contains profession-specific changes, including fee increases for peer-recovery providers and a civil penalty increase for unauthorized practice.

On the early childhood licensure proposal, legislative counsel and committee staff described four license categories: ECE 1, ECE 2, ECE 3 and a time-limited 'family child care provider' legacy track for individuals already operating family child care homes. Under the draft rules discussed in committee, the categories differ by education and experience requirements: ECE 1 requires a certificate and 120 hours of field experience; ECE 2 generally corresponds to an associate's degree (roughly 60 college credits) or equivalent coursework; ECE 3 corresponds to a bachelor's degree or equivalent credits; family child care providers would be eligible for a limited grandfathering window if in good standing with CDD as of Jan. 1, 2028.

Licenses would be biennial. The bill's draft fee schedule presented to the committee shows initial and renewal fees that staff and the Joint Fiscal Office said would generate significant revenue when the universe of licensees is fully enrolled. Committee materials and Joint Fiscal Office analysis shown in committee summary: estimated initial-year licensure revenue in the low seven figures (OPR estimated roughly $1.0 million initially, rising to about $1.35 million as renewals take effect), with onetime start-up costs and staff funded in early years from general fund appropriations and a proposed $1.4 million transfer from CCFAP to OPR to cover the first licensure cycle and the first renewal cycle.

Joint Fiscal Office analyst Richard (Joint Fiscal Office) told the committee the bill includes a $262,000 FY26 appropriation for two positions (an executive officer for regulation of mental health professions and an exempt staff attorney) and $628,867 for three additional positions in FY27. He said OPR estimates annual fee revenue in the low seven figures once licensing is fully implemented but that the senate budget and the house budget differed on how to cover initial startup and waiver costs; the Senate's budget included roughly $1.269 million to support implementation and fee waivers; the House did not include that appropriation.

Massage therapists testified in person. Jada Thompson, program manager for the Vermont chapter of the American Massage Therapy Association, said the profession was converted to registration (not licensure) in an earlier legislative session at OPR's request and that the current biannual registration fee of $275 is burdensome compared with the previous $90 initial registration and with other regulated professions. Thompson said roughly 400 massage-therapy registrations lapsed after fees were raised and asked the committee to reduce registration fees or advance licensure instead of registration. The association said OPR had justified the high fees on the basis of investigation costs while simultaneously saying licensure was not necessary for public safety; the association called that inconsistent and urged licensure as the appropriate public-safety standard.

Committee members asked OPR and Joint Fiscal Office staff for more detail on the universe of expected licensees, fee comparators for professions with similar regulatory burdens, and the agency's assumptions about how quickly existing workers would obtain licensure. Senators also asked for clearer alignment between funding and workload: how many enforcement and licensing positions the agency needs, how onetime IT costs are estimated, and how fee waivers and transfers from CCFAP affect implementation timing.

No formal votes were taken on the bill in this hearing. The committee paused for further committee discussion and scheduled follow-up testimony, including OPR officials and affected stakeholders, at a later date. JFO and staff offered to provide detailed modeling of projected revenue and the timing of fee receipts, and the committee asked for that work in advance of future deliberations.

Ending note: Massage therapists and other stakeholders asked for fee relief or a path to licensure; senators signaled they want more fiscal detail from JFO and OPR before deciding whether to adopt the early childhood licensure structure and the proposed fee changes.