Changes await more than a dozen professions in the annual housekeeping bill of Vermont’s Office of Professional Regulation.
H.656 aims to create some new professional licenses — notably a “limited services” tier for alternative funerals. A proposed distinction between social workers who do and do not practice psychotherapy was dialed back to a study committee Tuesday in the wake of strenuous opposition.
Other measures in the bill, which is up for a third reading in the House, would reconfigure the rosters for psychologists, make it easier for military spouses to transfer professional licenses to Vermont and require background checks for real estate appraisers, among other provisions.
Secretary of State Jim Condos, who oversees the Office of Professional Regulation, said by email that he’s proud of the division’s work.
“Many of the additions contained in this bill will help us become even more efficient in assisting licensed professionals and protect the public from problem practitioners,” Condos said.
“We think we are ‘right-sized’ at the moment and are providing excellent customer service,” he said. “We’d like to keep it that way. So if we are asked to regulate more and more professions, we will need the resources to go with it or those efficiencies and productivity gains will suffer.”
Some “sunrise” reviews are on the agenda this spring. Lawmakers are considering the possibility of regulating massage therapists, precious metal dealers, home inspectors and foresters.
OPR currently oversees 45 professions. Doctors, lawyers and teachers each are regulated separately, as are several fields that fall within the purview of the Department of Public Safety.
Teacher licensing is in the spotlight this spring as Vermont’s Agency of Education and the Vermont chapter of the National Education Association negotiate teacher evaluations.
The Vermont-NEA has asked the Legislature to separate teacher licensure from evaluations by moving the licensing process from Agency of Education to the Office of Professional Regulation. The Senate Committee on Education has yet to take action, pending further negotiations between the parties.
One potential change that’s not in H.656: modifications to a recently passed license for medication nursing assistants. The position allows licensed nursing assistants with additional education to administer medication — to limited populations in a stable environment, such a nursing home. OPR Director Chris Winters said some nurses want to revisit the new licensure, but the House Committee on Government Operations chose not to delve back into the newly created profession this year.
Following is a rundown of major provisions in H.656:
- Military personnel and spouses: The bill allows members of the U.S. Armed Forces to more easily apply their military education, training and experience toward professional licensure or certification. An expedited process also would be extended to military spouses who leave employment in another state to accompany their partners while stationed in Vermont.
- Speech language pathologists and audiologists: Oversight of two professions will move to OPR: speech language pathologists and audiologists, which are currently licensed by the Agency of Education. Winters said that when the professions became regulated more than a decade ago, they landed under Education’s purview because so many speech language pathologists and audiologists practice in schools. Now, they’ll likely move to OPR because so many practice outside of educational settings. Though OPR does not currently handle licensing, the office does handle some non-educational investigations. Winters said both agencies support the transfer because enforcement will no longer be split between the agencies.
- “Limited services” funeral establishments: As alternative funerals such as cremation and “green burials” have grown in popularity, many funeral establishments have found their business models changing. They would change even more under H.656, which establishes a new license for limited service funerals that don’t entail traditional embalming and burial.
- Social workers: Social workers won’t see major changes in their licensure yet, but a study committee will likely be established to consider distinguishing between social workers who do and do not practice psychotherapy. Legislation establishing separate licenses made it to the House floor Tuesday, but a floor amendment replaced that section with a study committee. Winters said the change in course was a response to representatives from the University of Vermont, who raised concerns about the bifurcation after a round of public hearings. “As much as we tried to explain it as branches of social work,” Winters said, “still it was being perceived as tiers, implying one was more advanced than the other.”
- Psychology trainees: A recent change to the way psychologists-in-training are registered turned out to be confusing, Winters said, so his office is suggesting a return to the former system. Trainees will register for a nonlicensed roster and be required to disclose their status to clients.
- Security personnel: People who only work for part of the year as security personnel, but who do it year after year, would be required to undergo more professional training: 40 hours per year, compared to the eight hours required for temporary security duty.
- Real estate: H.656 would increase the professional development requirements for real estate brokers and salespeople. Appraisers also would be required to undergo extensive background checks. Winters said the latter is necessary to conform to federal regulations. He added that more professions will likely see federal mandates for background checks in the future.
- Tattooists: With the advent of permanent cosmetics, tattooing is no longer the provence of storefront tattoo shops. Tattooing is now used both for makeup and following medical treatment for burns or surgery. H.656 clarifies that apprenticeships from any licensed tattooist in good standing in another state will be applicable toward Vermont registration as a tattooist. Winters said the cosmetic tattooists wanted clarification that they didn’t need to apprentice “at the local tattoo shop, because their practice is very different although the procedure is essentially the same.”
- Electrologists: A special endorsement to practice laser hair removal will be added to the licensure landscape for electrologists.
- Barbers and cosmetologists: A small tweak to statutory wording will clarify that two of Vermont’s schools for cosmetology are post-secondary institutions. The change will maintain eligibility for certain federal scholarships that are only available for post-secondary cosmetology students.
- Pharmacists: Pharmacists who work in “collaborative practice” with doctors will have more leeway to adjust prescriptions such as insulin and blood thinners. The change will not take effect immediately, but H.656 would give the Board of Pharmacy authority to write new rules allowing for a more streamlined process for prescription adjustments. Additionally, pharmacy technicians would have to take a national certification exam.
Naturopaths and midwives: An existing interdisciplinary study committee on prescribing authority for naturopaths is made permanent under H.656. A similar committee to monitor professional practice is established for midwives.