Deputy Secretary outlines broad changes to professional regulation bill, including new data‑feed fees and mental‑health staffing request

Deputy Secretary Lauren Hibbert of the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office outlined multiple proposed changes to an Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) bill during a Feb. 28 committee meeting, asking lawmakers to approve new fee authorities, restore several previously dropped fees, clarify enforcement limits for a proposed social‑worker title protection provision and fund a new executive position for mental‑health licensing oversight.

The proposals include authority for the Secretary of State to establish a policy and charge voluntary subscription fees for continuous data feeds (so‑called application programming interfaces, or APIs) that external organizations request; a set of fee increases and restorations for OPR services; a disciplinary surcharge after proven enforcement actions; an exemption from the statutes that automatically sunset boards every five years; a requirement that barber and cosmetology schools teach care of textured hair; streamlined re‑entry for licensed nursing assistants who let a license lapse under five years; repeal of motor vehicle racing regulation; and a $170,000 one‑time appropriation to create an executive officer position dedicated to mental‑health professions.

“We are being asked to provide downloads of the data that’s within our system to external partners on a continuous basis,” Hibbert told the committee. “That costs money to do, and it costs money to maintain. So what we want to do is be reimbursed for that work that we are being asked to do, and someone voluntarily is asking us to create and do for them.”

Hibbert said the data‑feed service…