California occupational-therapy board OKs rulemaking to raise renewal fees to $300

California Board of Occupational Therapy members voted unanimously on June 13 to initiate a rulemaking package to raise biennial renewal fees for occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants to $300, the board's statutory cap.

The board approved the regulatory language and a clerical correction to the draft package in two motions after discussion with the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) Budget Office. The vote on the final amended motion was 4–0 in favor.

Board members and DCA budget staff said the change is intended to stabilize the board fund, which has been running a thin reserve and faces a structural imbalance between ongoing revenues and expenditures.

DCA budget analysts presented scenarios showing that the board’s projected workload cost to process a single license renewal is $312 — above the $300 statutory cap — and that without fee changes the fund could run negative in later years. "The board finds that its cost is $312 exceeding the statutory fee cap of $300," Sam Dyer, DCA budget office, said…