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Ohio Architects and Landscape Architects boards seek modest funding increases to sustain licensing and enforcement
Summary
The executive director of the Ohio Architects Board and Ohio Landscape Architects Board testified in support of the boards’ budget request, citing licensing portability, enforcement work and plans to keep fees low.
Shannon Hines, executive director of the Ohio Architects Board and the Ohio Landscape Architects Board, told the House Agriculture Committee she supports the executive budget recommendation that would modestly raise operating funding so the two boards can continue licensing, investigations and public education tasks.
Hines said the boards operate under a single budget and share a small staff of four: an executive director, one investigator and two administrative staff. She said the boards together license and register just under 10,000 architects, landscape architects and firms and that the boards’ work protects the “health, safety and welfare of Ohioans” by ensuring licensees meet education, experience and ethical standards.
The testimony described recent steps to ease reciprocity for practitioners licensed in other states and to reduce financial barriers for recent graduates: Hines said last year the General Assembly eliminated the $50 initial license fee for new architects. She also credited national organizations — the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) and the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards (CLARB) — for creating more uniform standards that speed reciprocal licensure.
On the biennial budget, Hines said the executive recommendation provides operating funds of about $674,000 for fiscal year 2026 and about $690,000 for fiscal year 2027, roughly a 1% and 3% increase, respectively, over a FY25 estimated operating cost of $667,469. The boards are funded entirely through licensing and renewal fees deposited into the Occupational Professional and Licensing Fund, and do not receive GRF (General Revenue Fund) appropriations.
Committee members asked about how many other professions use national organizations for reciprocity, whether the fee change will affect licensing volume and how costly it is to train and license architects. Hines said the board does not track education costs or wages, but noted Ohio has five accredited architecture programs and that national and state policy discussions are underway about alternative pathways to licensure.
Hines closed by saying the boards seek to continue prompt licensing and timely enforcement while reviewing processes to increase efficiency and reduce barriers to licensure.
