New Hampshire OPLC outlines licensing, enforcement and backlog cleanup plan

Deanna Juris, executive director of the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification, told the House Executive Departments and Administration Committee that the office’s mission is to “safeguard public health, safety, welfare, environment, and then public trust” and that the office follows the plain language of law: “If the law says it, we do it. If it doesn’t, we don’t.”

Juris laid out OPLC’s organizational structure and the three operational pillars she said the office runs: licensing and board administration (including customer service), enforcement (investigations and prosecutions) and operations (finance, HR, IT and contracts). She said the office provides administrative support to 57 boards, 7 advisory bodies and 50 full licensing boards, and identified key staff: Nicholas Fry, general counsel; Heather Kelly, director of operations; Bethany Cottrell, director of licensing and board administration; and Sarah Rogers, director of enforcement.

The presentation emphasized recent licensing performance and a short- and medium-term plan for enforcement. Juris said OPLC has moved to an online application portal that prevents incomplete packets from proceeding and reported improvement in processing times: “87% of our applications were a decision made within the 90 day time frame, and 57% were within 14 days,” she said. Bethany Cottrell described the practical steps for professions such as nursing: graduates apply to OPLC to sit for the exam, OPLC approves the authorization to test and issues provisional credentials where applicable; final unrestricted licenses follow receipt of exam results and required criminal background checks.

On enforcement, Juris acknowledged a backlog and an audit of pending complaints. She said staff were verifying complaint records and completing a facial legal review for older pending matters, and that as of the presentation there were 271 verified complaints among roughly 2,771 unverified pending complaints. Juris said the division aimed to verify the backlog records and begin expedited processing within “the next 3 weeks” and described plans to standardize dismissal memos so boards have sufficient detail when asked to accept or reject office recommendations.

Committee members asked for clarifications about temporary licenses, board authority, and rulemaking. Juris cited RSA 310 and related statute as the legal framework for the office’s responsibilities, noted the office performs about 25% of the state’s initial rule proposals, and said several statutory cleanup items (HB 655 and HB 1095) and an interstate portability bill (HP 594/2023) have affected operations. She also described a plan to standardize how criminal-history checks are handled across boards so routine low-risk checks need not be presented to boards.

Juris said staffing and budget are operational constraints: she described an authorized staffing cap near 120 positions and a current filled count near 104, and asked the committee for patience while enforcement processes were reorganized. She invited the committee to expect a fuller enforcement status report and metrics in about a year, and said licensing/call-center improvements were already measurable. The office described monthly outreach to board chairs and said it will continue rulemaking to implement a statute directing accommodation for military service members.

Juris and staff said they would provide the committee with the office’s 2023 annual report and periodic biweekly licensing metrics on request. Committee members and the director discussed vacancies and board membership turnover and agreed the office maintains a roster of current members and vacancies and will continue to share that with the Governor’s nominations process as appropriate.

Juris closed by reiterating the office’s priority: timely licensing service and thorough but expeditious enforcement, with a plan to tighten communications with complainants and boards so matters do not languish without clear status updates.