DOPL tells JFAC audits show excess cash balances; seeks targeted pay boost for inspectors amid high turnover

Russ Baron, administrator of the Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses (DOPL), told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee that DOPL is managing more than 45 professional boards and hundreds of thousands of licensed professionals and is addressing long-standing audit findings about excessive cash balances.

DOPL was created by House Bill 318 in 2020 to consolidate multiple licensing functions. Kellen McGurkin, a Legislative Services analyst, told the committee DOPL now oversees roughly 200,000 licensees (approaching 300,000 in Jacob Baron’s remarks) across 45 boards and commissions and operates primarily on dedicated and federal funds. McGurkin showed receipts and transfers that included about $50 million moved from boards’ prior cash balances and roughly $30 million in new licensing revenue, and he said DOPL is working to rebalance board cash accounts through fee reductions and a proposed fee-holiday authority.

April Renfro of Legislative Audit summarized the open audit finding: the division has an ongoing finding related to boards’ cash balances and is working on multi-year plans to bring boards into a reasonableness range. Renfro explained the office is looking for consistent policies that ensure boards maintain neither too little nor excessively large reserves and will continue follow-up work on the reports that DOPL submits.

Baron said turnover among the division’s trades inspectors has been high — “it’s ranged from 12 to 67% turnover depending on the program, depending on the year” — and that vacancies sometimes remain unfilled for months, impairing inspection capacity in rural areas. He said inspections are a public-safety and business-enabling function: “These inspections are for safety purposes,” Baron told the committee, and delays can increase costs or slow projects.

DOPL asked for ongoing FY2026 funding of $222,000 in dedicated funds to raise inspector pay by an average of about $0.95 per hour across 92 FTE, increase the starting hourly wage from $27.50 to $28.60 for certain inspector classifications, and provide a 2.5% compression adjustment. One-time requests included $900,500 for vehicle replacements (16 Ford F-150s, five Ford Escapes, one Ford F-250 and one Ford Explorer) and $146,401 for hardware recommended by the state Office of Information and Technology Services. McGurkin and Baron also noted an existing transfer-exemption provision that allows DOPL to move funds among its bureaus beyond the normal 10% limitation; the division expects to request that exemption for one to two more years while balances normalize.

Baron said the division has implemented a new licensing information system with phased releases (July and November) that should yield longer-term efficiencies and allow cross-training and consolidated customer service; he said the system also supports more consistent, board-level revenue forecasting. Committee members asked for the DOPL five-year cash-balance plans and follow-up analysis; Baron and McGurkin said the committee would be provided the detailed board-level plan attached to the audit and additional breakdowns if requested.

Audit and DOPL staff said no general fund dollars are used for the agency’s operations: the division runs on dedicated licensing and federal funds. Auditors said resolving cash-balance findings is a multiyear effort that requires fee adjustments and reporting; DOPL said it has begun fee reductions and is considering targeted tools such as fee holidays and legislation to respond more quickly to board balances.