Deputy secretary of state and OPR present fee updates, data-feed charges and enforcement changes in H-472

Lauren Hibbert, deputy secretary of state, told the committee H-472 responds to a money-study directive and to an OPR fund deficit that staff estimate at about $1,500,000. She described three categories of changes: (1) fee restorations and scheduled fee increases for particular license types (electrology shops and peer-support specialists), (2) authority to charge for data feeds and application-program interfaces (APIs) that the office currently provides at no charge but which require development and maintenance costs, and (3) enforcement and penalty adjustments, including a proposed administrative penalty increase for unauthorized practice from $2,500 to $5,000.

Nut graf: OPR asked the committee to allow the office to recover legitimate operating costs by restoring and setting certain fees and by authorizing policy-based fees for bespoke data feeds. Staff characterize most changes as cost recovery for services the office already provides or for newly developed data services; members pressed for implementation details and for JFO cost estimates before the bill proceeds.

Details from OPR Hibbert said electrology-shop fees were inadvertently dropped during the 2022 fee bill; OPR currently inspects electrology shops and needs the renewal fee authority restored to collect revenue from roughly 34 electrology shops. She said peer-support specialist renewals were originally authorized at $50 and intended to increase to $75 in 2027; the bill would restore that planned step-up.

Data feeds and APIs Hibbert described active external demand for OPR data—license lists, verification data used by hospitals and insurers—and said the office has historically supplied custom feeds for free. With a recently implemented new licensing system, OPR can now provide automated connections to external systems but staffing and development costs exist. Hibbert asked statutory authority to set fees by policy so the office may charge for recurring API access and one-time setup fees for bespoke feeds; she said the fees would go into the OPR special fund and that OPR does not expect to generate large profits from the service.

Enforcement and penalties Hibbert and Jen Cohen (OPR general counsel) described a proposed $250 disciplinary-related fee to place some cost burden on disciplined licensees and said enforcement-cost allocation methods are being refined by OPR (time-reporting changes for staff). They also asked to increase administrative penalties for unauthorized practice to $5,000 (to align with comparable superior-court penalties) and described collection tools (payment plans, referral to Department of Taxes for collection, nonrenewal of licenses for unpaid balances).

Questions and next steps Committee members asked whether fees would be annual, per API call, or a set-up plus annual model; Hibbert said the office favors an annual recurring fee plus an initial setup charge for bespoke integrations, with exact structure to be set in policy. Members also asked whether fee revenue would be siloed and used only for the relevant OPR funds; Hibbert confirmed there are two Secretary of State funds and that OPR fees would be credited to the appropriate special fund. Staff told the committee that JFO was still working on numbering and that OPR would supply written testimony and more granular cost data for JFO review.

Ending: OPR committed to provide written follow-up with staffing-time allocations, expected fee structures, and revenue estimates to assist JFO analysis prior to further committee action.