12/04/2004

TDLR To Lower 29 License Fees

The cost of doing business in Texas just dropped - at least for many of the people engaged in occupations licensed by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR).

The Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation, TDLR's governing body, has voted unanimously to reduce 29 licensing and registration fees in 12 of TDLR's 22 programs. Fee reductions range from 10 percent to as high as 75 percent.

"We perform an annual review to ensure that the licensing fees we charge cover only the cost of operating each of our programs," said William Kuntz, TDLR's executive director. "As our license base grows, the efficiency of our agency structure becomes more pronounced. Our efficiency is good news for our licensees."

Because of the way TDLR is structured, the addition of programs to the existing license base results in lower per license costs. The 78th Texas Legislature added three new programs to the agency's portfolio last year.

When the TexasLegislature created TDLR in 1989, it was envisioned as an "umbrella" licensing agency capable of regulating a wide variety of occupations. This structure promotes efficiency by allowing the costs of administration - such as executive management, human resources, legal services, information services and accounting - to be spread across many licensing programs. As the number of programs is increased, or the licensee population grows, the processing cost per license actually drops as the administrative costs are apportioned to a larger population base.

"This doesn't surprise me. This level of performance is exactly what the legislature expected when we gave those additional responsibilities to TDLR," said Texas Sen. Tommy Williams of The Woodlands, who is a member of the Senate Finance Committee. "TDLR has earned its reputation for efficiency.They provide a model for what successful consolidation should look like."

Other states also have umbrella licensing agencies, but not like TDLR. In other states, an umbrella agency might consist of a collection of licensing clusters, each responsible for the entirety of a single regulatory program. One group of employees processes and issues a single type of license and also tracks compliance and prosecutes enforcement cases.

TDLR, however, is structured along functional lines. So, at TDLR, the licensing division processes applications and issues licenses for all of the agency's 22 programs. TDLR's philosophy is that program experts belong in the compliance division, which tracks adherence to the law and the rules for all license types. The enforcement division prosecutes all violators. Aligning along functional lines eliminates redundancies among programs and allows even greater efficiencies.

"The same basic functions are required regardless of the type of license," Kuntz said. "So it only makes sense to us to have the same people issuing all licenses rather than setting up a system of specialists for each type of license. This also gives us more flexibility to handle the regular ebbs and flows of the licensing business."

Examples of the fee reductions include: air conditioning contractors, reduced from $125 annually to $80, a 36 percent reduction; journeyman electrician, $50 annually to $40, a 20 percent reduction; staff leasing services companies with less than 250 assigned employees, $1,000 annually to $250, a 75 percent reduction; licensed court interpreters, $175 annually to $75, a 57 percent reduction. To see a complete list of TDLR licensing fees that will be reduced, visit the TDLR website at
http://www.license.state.tx.us/feereductions.htm.

Before the lower fees can become effective, TDLR's rules will have to be adjusted. Adjustment of rules involving 12 programs will take some time, but TDLR staff will begin modifying the rules immediately and all rule changes should be completed by the end of the year.

To receive news and updates on any of the programs TDLR administers, sign up for TDLR's email subscription service at: http://www.license.state.tx.us/newsletters/TDLRnotificationLists.asp

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