Deputy Secretary seeks doula certification, mental health executive officer and data-feed authority in OPR bill

Lauren Hibbert, Deputy Secretary of State, presented the Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) bill draft and asked the committee to consider several targeted amendments, outlining reasons and operational implications for each.

Hibbert asked that the doula bill (H79), which would establish voluntary certification for doulas, be attached to the OPR bill so it can make “significant progress” this session; she said the topic had broad stakeholder consensus and had been studied over the summer. She said certification is the proposed regulatory approach and that the senate side had indicated willingness to work with the House on crossover.

Hibbert also asked the committee to add a mental health executive officer position to OPR’s staff, funded as a one‑time general fund allotment in the current budget request. She said the request is rooted in an 18‑month mental health study that found OPR regulates 17 different mental health licenses and identified a need to consolidate boards and streamline licensure, supervision and alternative pathways for candidates. Hibbert testified that the one‑time fiscal ask in testimony is “a hundred and $70,000” (salary and benefits) to hire a classified executive officer now, with the expectation OPR could absorb the ongoing cost later as the office’s fiscal posture improves.

On data services, Hibbert asked statutory authority for the secretary of state to charge fees for optional data feeds and custom API work and suggested placing that fee authority in the general revenue collection section (3 BSA 118). She described current usage patterns — for example, UVM receives a daily download of health-care licensees and uses it to verify staff licensure; OPR built that service for UVM at an approximate development cost of $150,000 and currently provides it for free. Hibbert asked that the committee allow the secretary of state to set optional subscription fees by policy rather than fix a single dollar amount in statute, to permit flexibility for large corporate users versus small associations.

Hibbert reviewed several regulatory changes sought for license renewal for licensed nursing assistants (LNAs). She proposed allowing licensees who have lapsed (for example, those who stopped practicing and later return) to renew by retaking a competency exam rather than repeating full educational programs; she said specifics of the time window and active‑practice thresholds would be clarified in writing later.

On two social‑work amendments under consideration, Hibbert said OPR does not strongly oppose an expanded “title protection” request but warned that OPR lacks capacity to actively enforce broad uses of the term “social worker” in job postings or elsewhere without additional staff and funding. She opposed removing a statutory carve‑out in the definition of psychotherapy that exempts certain AHS employees and others from psychotherapy licensing rules; Hibbert explained the carve‑out’s legislative history and stressed that clinical supervision requirements (3,000 supervised hours with 2,000 related to psychotherapy under current rules) are embedded in administrative rules and are important to ensure public protection.

Committee members asked questions about how doulas differ from midwives, whether the executive officer request was included in budget testimony, the $170,000 figure, and how a subscription data fee would be implemented. Hibbert said the executive officer request had been presented to House Appropriations and House Health and that it had been included in testimony; she confirmed the $170,000 estimate covers salary and benefits and characterized it as primarily a one‑time fiscal-year ask to be absorbed later.

Members did not reach final decisions on the proposed OPR bill amendments during the meeting; they agreed to “marinate” the proposals and follow up with written questions and potential drafting requests. Hibbert said the doula addition may be progressed via crossover with the senate and that OPR will continue stakeholder conversations as the draft evolves.

Quotes in context: “For the record, my name is Lauren Hibbert. I am the Deputy Secretary of State,” Hibbert told the committee. On the executive officer cost she said, “It's in the testimony, but it's a hundred and $70,000. And this we anticipate that this would be a 1 time ask, for this fiscal year, but that next year, we would be able to absorb it into the OPR budget.” On the UVM data feed she said OPR “built that for UVM for free. And that cost is about we've spent about a hundred and $50,000 on that project.”

The committee indicated it would consider drafting requests and bring the bill back for further discussion; no formal committee votes on the OPR amendments were taken during the session.