Senate Government Operations reviews OPR bill fiscal note, hears request for $170,000 mental‑health regulation post

The Senate Committee on Government Operations took testimony April 15 on a bill that would change licensing fees and other authorities for the Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) and includes a one‑time $170,000 appropriation to fund an executive officer to oversee regulation of mental‑health professions.

The Joint Fiscal Office summarized the bill’s projected fiscal impacts and the Office of Professional Regulation answered committee questions about how changes would affect the professional regulation fund. Ted Farnett of the Joint Fiscal Office said, "This table summarizes the fiscal impacts of the bill," and walked members through estimates for fee changes and other provisions.

Why it matters: The bill would alter several licensing fees and OPR authorities that fund the agency’s special fund and would add a staff position intended to implement recent recommendations on mental‑health regulation. The fiscal adjustments and the appropriation affect how OPR will finance ongoing oversight and verification services used by employers and other states.

Most significant fiscal items

- Verification fee increase: The bill would raise the fee charged for license verification from $20 to $30. JFO estimated roughly 2,000 verifications per year, producing about $20,000 in additional annual revenue.

- Specialty endorsements: JFO identified a new or newly charged specialty endorsement fee (proposed at $100) for certain license endorsements as the largest revenue source in the note; JFO’s summary estimated roughly $200,000 in additional annual revenue tied to specialty‑endorsement charges.

- Apprenticeship application fee: OPR and JFO listed a new apprenticeship application fee that JFO projected would raise about $7,500 annually.

- Motor‑vehicle racing jurisdiction repeal: The bill would repeal OPR jurisdiction over motor‑vehicle racing. JFO said repealing that jurisdiction would reduce revenue modestly (about $2,000 in one year and about $14,000 in another year, as shown in the fiscal note).

Limits to the fiscal estimate

JFO staff told the committee they did not estimate revenues from penalty provisions or from newly authorized data‑subscription fees because those amounts are variable. "We don't estimate lines of penalties because those are variable," a JFO analyst said. The bill also would give the secretary of state authority to charge fees for data services; JFO said revenue from those subscriptions depends on demand and contract size and therefore was not forecast in the fiscal note.

Appropriation and staffing for mental‑health regulation

Section 12 of the bill would appropriate $170,000 for a new executive officer focused on regulation of mental‑health professions. OPR and a representative of the Secretary of State’s Office told the committee the request follows a two‑year study into mental‑health regulation and that the recommendation was not included in the governor’s recommended budget this year.

Michael Warren of the Office of Professional Regulation said the verification service at issue is commonly used when "somebody who's licensed in the state of Vermont is looking to become licensed in another state," and employers also use the verification service to confirm licensure.

OPR told the committee the $170,000 appropriation would be a one‑time general‑fund request for the current year and that ongoing costs would be drawn from the OPR special fund in future years. OPR also said it will ask the committee to amend the bill language to change the job description from an "exempt employee" to a "classified employee."

Committee questions and clarifications

Committee members pressed staff on whether the same individuals would be affected by multiple fee changes and on how frequently verification and endorsements occur. OPR staff said annual volumes are roughly 2,000 per item and that some overlap could occur but the figures are separate estimates for the different services. JFO clarified the specialty endorsement and verification counts are annual estimates rather than a single cohort.

No formal vote or final committee action was recorded during the hearing. OPR staff said an amendment regarding employee classification will be filed and the appropriation remains under consideration.

Taper: The committee adjourned after the OPR testimony with the expectation that staff will supply the amendment language and additional detail as requested.