Deputy Secretary of State asks for an OPR executive officer to speed mental-health licensure and consolidation

Lauren Hibbert, Deputy Secretary of State, told the committee on Feb. 19 that the Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) is proposing creation of an executive officer position to consolidate and modernize mental-health licensure in Vermont.

Hibbert said OPR regulates 53 professions and that the 17 mental-health licenses combined account for about 10,000 licensees. "We would have a consolidated mental health board, with only psychologists being excluded from that board" in the initial consolidation, she said, adding that psychologists would remain licensed under their own board but that the executive officer would oversee mental-health professions broadly.

Hibbert said the executive officer would lead a comprehensive statutory and rule rewrite for mental-health licensure, streamline application review (allowing approvals between monthly board meetings), reduce delays caused by third-party contractors, and develop alternative pathways or remedial coursework to address barriers to licensure. She said OPR’s mental-health application times currently run "45 to 60 days" after requirements are complete, compared with about 45 minutes for nursing applications.

To stand up the position now, Hibbert asked the committee to include a $170,000 general-fund appropriation for salary and benefits in the current OPR bill and said OPR expects to absorb non-salary startup costs. She said the OPR budget currently runs a deficit of about $1,500,000 and that the office will aim to cover the position in its regular budget next year.

Hibbert said OPR has already begun improved time-tracking by profession and expects the executive officer to reduce reliance on a third-party application reviewer used by the allied mental-health board. She called the mental-health study an 18-month stakeholder-engaged report with 20 recommendations and said the office will return next session with proposed statutory language after additional outreach.

Committee members asked operational and fiscal questions: how many OPR staff (Hibbert said 41), whether the position would reduce long-term licensing costs (Hibbert said data are limited because new time-tracking started in December), and why psychologists were excluded from the first consolidation (Hibbert said the psychology board preferred to remain separate for now).

Hibbert also described OPR complaint and enforcement workload: OPR receives about 800 complaints a year, screens about 600 for further action and prosecutes roughly 150–200 annually; OPR maintains investigators, inspectors and prosecutors to handle investigations and administrative adjudication.

Hibbert said the request is currently part of the OPR bill in House Government Operations and that the appropriation would later proceed to Appropriations. She asked both committees to consider supporting the position so the office can begin consolidation and licensing reforms this biennium.