The Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation protects the health, safety and welfare of the public by licensing qualified individuals and businesses and enforcing standards of professional conduct for professions and occupations as designated by statute.

The Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation will be the Commonwealth’s most effective agency, discovering creative ways to integrate regulatory efficiency with consumer protection via a commitment to exceptional customer service, efficient business processes, technological proficiency, and empowered employees who are committed to public service and professional development.

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The Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR) issues professional credentials (licenses, certificates or registrations) for more than 300,000 individuals and businesses subject to regulation, as determined by the General Assembly pursuant to Title 54.1 Subtitle II of the Code of Virginia. The agency performs all administrative functions for 19 boards (15 policy boards, 3 advisory boards and the Board for Professional and Occupational Regulation) comprised of practitioners and citizens. DPOR protects the public by verifying minimum competency, investigating complaints, and upholding professional compliance with state law and regulations.

DPOR regulatory boards establish minimum entry qualifications and qualify applicants based on a combination of education, experience and examination. The agency enforces standards of professional conduct by investigating reports of regulatory violations, seeking compliance with legal requirements or disciplining the regulant. Regulatory violations are subject to sanctions ranging from fines and probationary terms to license suspension or revocation.

Additionally, the agency administers and enforces federal and state fair housing law, operates the Office of the Common Interest Community Ombudsman; and manages recovery funds established by statute related to contractors, real estate, and common interest communities.

As of the end of the 2018 fiscal year, the Department had 203 full-time positions (181 of them filled) and 31 wage positions. A non-general fund agency, DPOR is financed solely by licensing fees, which are adjusted periodically in accordance with state law to ensure revenues are sufficient but not excessive.

DPOR will continue its development of fully interactive business processes, including on-line licensure, address changes, case management, and reporting capabilities. Secure, user-friendly online services are essential to meeting citizen expectations, improving customer service, excelling with e-government initiatives, managing and evaluating operations effectively, and redirecting staff to higher-level workflow activities. Balancing the significant resource investments in application and employee development required for such transformation, however, requires the Department to identify other processing efficiencies.

Ongoing expansion of DPOR’s innovative electronic document management capabilities will continue to improve Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and in-house research response time through desktop retrieval of electronic records in a fraction of the time needed to retrieve paper documents. Additionally, the agency is nearing completion of its conversion of internal paper/non-interactive forms to interactive forms with digital (electronic signature) capability thereby eliminating the cost and delay associated with paper record processing.

DPOR will continue its process improvement efforts by investing in employee professional development, specifically stressing technical training for customer service skill sets and coaching for core competencies, and emphasizing the effective use of reliable data and measures to evaluate and improve performance, teamwork and employee morale.

Population increases, enhanced workforce opportunities, and new regulatory programs (affecting customer bases) create increased demand for agency services, particularly real-time automated interactive business processes to support on-line licensure and case management. Renewed emphasis on anytime anywhere access to electronic data generates greater demand for enhanced delivery, readiness, and reporting capabilities.

While relatively new, the Department's licensing and regulation system has not been expanded to provide enhanced processing abilities as originally planned, and enforcement tracking initiatives remain a separate process, both of which make regulatory programming changes highly resource-intensive efforts for the agency.  Additionally, changes driven by the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA) in IT infrastructure, cybersecurity and IT governance continue to require resource-intensive means to ensure DPOR’s continuity in providing and serving both internal and external customers.  These changes and the associated expenses in meeting VITA IT security and infrastructure mandates will likely continue to increase DPOR’s overhead costs.

As the operational needs of DPOR evolve to better align our mission and the expectations of our customers, professional development opportunities for our workforce are critical. DPOR is a customer service-orientated agency charged with assisting and protecting the public with regard to our regulated professions. In an effort to focus on enhancing our customer service philosophy throughout the agency, employees are encouraged to explore various online training opportunities afforded through the Commonwealth of Virginia Learning Center and other on-demand training providers. DPOR also continues to encourage and support specific employee development initiatives connected to individual positions, and extends a tuition reimbursement program as an additional consideration for job-related courses/programs. The Department's complex licensing system, requires continued training to allow employees to fully utilize this advanced system. DPOR partners with the Performance Management Group through Virginia Commonwealth University and identifies employees to participate in supervisory and/or management level programs to refine or establish their leadership skills. Considering all of DPOR's professional development efforts combined with our succession planning and cross-training initiatives, DPOR strives to be adequately prepared to meet our customer’s needs as we move into the future.

The Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR) is located in the Perimeter Center office building in Henrico County's Deep Run Office Park. The Department of General Services leases the building at 9960 Mayland Drive, Richmond, Virginia, 23233 and in turn has assigned that space to five state agencies. DPOR leases nearly 44,000 sq. feet of commercial office and storage space in the four-story building.

The Department employs more than 193 individuals with 24 percent of DPOR's full-time positions [many as field investigators with home offices] telecommuting at least 32 hours each month, and another 22 percent telecommuting on an occasional basis.

The addition and modification of regulatory programs assigned to the Department by the General Assembly, as well as the potential for additional environmental and housing-related mandates (e.g., appraisers and fair housing) issued by the federal government, are among the external challenges facing the agency.

 Already enacted modifications to regulatory programs for the 2019 Fiscal Year include:

• Increased education requirements for real estate salespersons and brokers (2018, c. 60); effective 1/1/2019.


• Extension of tradesmen license term (2018, c. 750); exempt regulatory action effective 1/1/2019.

 DPOR is one of two pilot agencies participating in the three-year regulatory reduction program mandated by Chapter 444 of the 2018 Acts of Assembly. After developing a baseline catalog of discretionary regulatory requirements, the agency will attempt to reduce or streamline the overall number by 25 percent over three years.

 The regulatory review process continues to impede the Department’s ability to provide responsive services, with Administrative Process Act (APA) timeframes and executive branch approvals resulting in regulations taking an average of 24-48 months to become effective. Additionally, ensuring the security and integrity of the licensure process must be balanced with expectations for efficient and timely services. Fraud prevention, identity verification, and document authentication increase the time and expense associated with issuing a license.

 Finally, all professional regulatory boards face increased risk of legal liability following the NC Dental SCOTUS decision. DPOR boards’ exposure to anti-trust claims is minimized as a result of the director’s active supervision as a non-market participant.

The Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation's (DPOR's) primary source of funding is licensing fees charged to applicants and regulants, which represent 99% of revenues. Fee amounts are established for each board to provide revenues and cash reserves that are sufficient for operating expenses, but not excessive. Revenues from fees pay the expenses of each board, as well as a proportionate share of agency operations and support services. About 1% of DPOR's funds come from federal grants, which primarily support Fair Housing activities. DPOR receives only non-general funds.

Revenue for each board is recorded in separate revenue accounts. Revenue is collected from licensing and related fees as set in regulation. The agency and the boards have no other source of revenue. Fines and penalties may be collected by the agency but all such monies are transferred to the Literary Fund. All other revenue collected pays for the expenses of the boards and a proportionate share of the agency operations and support services.

Given the various professions and occupations assigned to the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR), it is conceivable that nearly all Virginia residents are served through and affected by the Department's service area programs. The statistics included in this report illustrate the magnitude of DPOR's operations. Specifically, DPOR processed more than 158,000 initial, renewal and reinstatement applications and related payments during FY 2018 while during the same time period, the licensing division alone handled over 287,000 telephone calls and email communications from the public

At the close of FY 2010, the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR) regulated approximately 310,000 individuals and businesses. Over the following three biennia, the volume of regulants decreased nearly 2%, primarily in contractor-related professions. However, decreases in the number of contractors were partially offset by increases in the real estate and engineering professions. Since 2016, the total regulant population has grown to approximately 311,000. The number of contractors is expected to stablilize and the Department expects the continuation of modest overall growth during the current biennium, primarily in real estate and engineering.

In FY 2016, DPOR received the lowest number of license, certification, and registration applications in more than a dozen years, processing approximately 24,000 applications. However, the number of applications has increased in the last two years by 1,000 each year to 26,000 applications. The Department expects a slight increase in applications over the next two years.

The number of complaints processed by DPOR has remained stable for the last five years, with approximately 3,370 in FY 2018. The Department estimates that there will be very little change in complaint volume for the 2018-20 Biennium, assuming approximately 3,400 to 3,500 complaints annually.

New recovery fund claims vary each year, with an annual average of 122 filed during the 2012-14 Biennium. During the two years of the 2014-16 Biennium, the annual average number of claims received by DPOR dropped to 66. The number of filed claims averaged 95 per year in the 2016-18 Biennium.  The Department estimates the number of claims filed will be in the 75-100 per year range for the current biennium. The number of claims approved for payment averaged 62 per year over the past four years. The Department expects a similar level of approved payments during the current biennium.

The Department's maximum employment level (MEL) is 212 and is expected to remain at 212 for the next two years. Similarly, the number of board members is expected to remain stable at 196 members.

Changes in the overall number or composition of regulatory programs—as determined by the General Assembly—will affect the number of potential customers in the bases of applicants, regulants, affiliated organizations, board members, and employees.

 Products and services with a direct impact on external customers include:

• Licenses, certifications, registrations, and other authorizations


• Alternative dispute resolution


• Application and form design


• Case management (compliance tracking and documentation)


• Common Interest Community Ombudsman determinations


• Communications and community outreach


• Complaint intake and analysis


• Customer assistance


• Disciplinary informal fact-finding conferences


• Investigation of regulatory, fair housing and unlicensed activity complaints


• Licensing informal fact-finding conferences


• Recovery fund claim processing


• Regulatory coordination and development

 Other products and services include:

• Board administration


• Budget and financial management


• Business continuity planning


• Education curricula development


• Employee benefits administration


• Employee development


• Employee recruitment and succession planning


• Examination administration


• Facilities management and visitor access control


• Information technology and systems development


• Legislative analysis


• Mail processing and delivery


• Policy analysis and plan development (including strategic planning)


• Quality assurance and performance measurement


• Records/information management


• Risk management


• Supply inventory management

Of the more than 308,000 individuals and businesses holding current licenses, certifications or registrations issued by the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR) at the end of FY 2018, 99 percent had no disciplinary violations during the same fiscal year. Of the more than 158,000 initial, renewal and reinstatement applications and related payments processed by DPOR during FY 2018, nearly 26,000 were applications for new licenses. The Compliance and Investigations Section processed approximately 3,370 disciplinary complaints during the same fiscal year.

DPOR improved its efforts to issue secure credentials to qualified applicants without unreasonably sacrificing processing time and efficiency when verifying identity and authenticating documents. Most notably, as a result of enabling legislation requested by the agency in 2017, contractor application backlogs have decreased with enactment of the surety bond option to demonstrate fiscal responsibility.

Professional regulation establishes entry standards to ensure that individuals and businesses engaged in activities that pose potential harm to the public are sufficiently qualified by meeting standards of competency via education, experience, and/or examination.

Efficient licensure of qualified individuals and businesses ensures that those entering regulated professions and occupations receive authorization to practice their chosen profession with minimal application processing delays.

• Perform periodic audits of applications, forms and instructions to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations while maintaining clarity to improve applicant comprehension and completion rates.

• Align board statutes and regulations to ensure entry and renewal requirements for credentialed professions support Virginia's current and future workforce needs.

Effective regulation requires legal standards that minimize barriers to entry into and practice of regulated professions and occupations while ensuring professional competence.

• Administer examination contracts to ensure psychometrically valid, ADA-compliant and properly administered exams.

• Promulgate least burdensome, reasonably restrictive regulations, which establish minimum standards of proficiency and conduct required to ensure professional and occupational competence.

Administrative services strives to meet customers' high performance expectations in all functional areas of responsibility by providing expert resource management, cost-effective information technology applications, innovative public relations and outreach activities, and comprehensive planning and evaluation efforts.

• Extend new licensing system functionality to expand online license capability to all professions and occupations.

• Explore new electronic document management opportunities.

Compliance with statutory and regulatory standards of practice – including non-discrimination in residential housing transactions – protects the public from incompetent or unscrupulous practitioners in a fair, expeditious, and uniform manner.

Enforcement receives, analyzes and, when necessary, investigates and adjudicates complaints of failure to comply with legal or regulatory professional requirements. Rather than emphasizing board-imposed sanctions against the respondent, the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR) will use a variety of alternatives to formal enforcement, including voluntary correction of administrative deficiencies and alternative dispute resolution. Alternatives to the formal disciplinary process often offer respondents and complainants faster resolution with flexible terms more favorable to both parties.

• Increase the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation's emphasis on bringing respondents into compliance.

• Require remedial education in addition or as an alternative to other sanctions imposed because of regulatory violations.

Enforcement receives, analyzes and, when necessary, investigates and adjudicates complaints of failure to comply with legal or regulatory professional requirements. Customer service (to the regulant, complainant and consumer customer bases) is improved by expeditious resolution of complaints.

• Evaluate alternative methods and develop new processes to increase the number of disciplinary cases closed within 180 days.

• Explore ways to reduce and simplify disciplinary case documentation requirements.

Internal and external customers expect effective, efficient business processes that support all agency operations. Stakeholders expect competent management of resources (financial, human and material), information technology, policy and planning activities, and public information supported by a comprehensive performance measurement system.

Administrative services are conducted in a highly structured environment bound by numerous federal and state guidelines. The ongoing challenge to support areas is to identify process improvement opportunities that conform to the legal and operational confines in order to maximize agency effectiveness.

• Design and implement a Departmental Performance Management System.

• Identify and address potential internal processing weaknesses.

Administrative services strives to meet customers' high performance expectations in all functional areas of responsibility by providing expert resource management, cost-effective information technology applications, innovative public relations and outreach activities, and comprehensive planning and evaluation efforts.

• Extend new licensing system functionality to expand online license capability to all professions and occupations.

• Explore new electronic document management opportunities.

The licensure, certification, and registration service area maintains clear licensure requirements and standards, and issues licenses, certifications, and registrations for the authorized practice of regulated professions and occupations.

This service area aligns directly with the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation's (DPOR’s) mission to serve and protect the public through licensure of qualified individuals and businesses in professions that, if not regulated, may harm the public’s health, safety and welfare.

Title 54.1, Subtitle I. General Provisions Relating to Regulatory Boards

Title 54.1, Subtitle II. Professions and Occupations Regulated by the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation and Boards within the Department

Virginia Administrative Code, Title 18, Professional and Occupational Licenses

Title 2.2, Subtitle I, Part C. State Agencies Related to the General Operation of Government

Title 2.2, Subtitle I, Part E. State Officers and Employees

Title 2.2, Subtitle II. Part B. Transaction of Public Business

Title 13.1, Corporations

Title 36, Chapter 5.1 (Virginia Fair Housing Law)

Title 42.1, Chapter 7 (Virginia Public Records Act)

Title 55, Chapter 4.1 (Horizontal Property)

Title 55, Chapter 4.2 (Condominium Act)

Title 55, Chapter 19 (Subdivided Land Sales Act)

Title 55, Chapter 21 (Virginia Real Estate Time-Share Act)

Title 55, Chapter 24 (Virginia Real Estate Cooperative Act)

Title 55, Chapter 26 (Property Owners’ Association Act)

Title 55, Chapter 27 (Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act)

Title 55, Chapter 27.2 (Real Estate Settlements)

Title 55, Chapter 27.3 (Real Estate Settlement Agents)

Title 55, Chapter 28 (Commercial Real Estate Broker's Lien Act)

Title 55, Chapter 29 (Common Interest Community Management Information Fund)

12 USC 3301 et seq. (Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act)

15 USC 2601 et seq. (Toxic Substances Control Act)

15 USC 6300 et seq. (Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996, amended by the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act effective 6/26/00)

42 USC 3601 et seq. (Federal Fair Housing Act)

Application and form design

Board administration

Case management (compliance tracking and documentation)

Communications and community outreach

Customer assistance

Education curricula development

Employee development

Examination administration

Legislative analysis

Licenses, certifications, registrations and other authorizations

Licensing informal fact-finding conferences

Policy analysis and plan development (including strategic planning)

Quality assurance and performance management

Records/information management

Regulatory coordination and development

The major source of funding for this service area is licensing fees charged to applicants and regulants. Fee amounts are established for each board to provide revenues and cash reserves that are sufficient for operating expenses, but not excessive. Revenues from fees pay the expenses of each board, as well as a proportionate share of agency operations and support services. This service area is funded entirely from non-general funds.

The enforcement of licensing, regulating and certifying service area analyzes, investigates and adjudicates complaints of violations of statutory and regulatory requirements including possible violations of fair housing laws that prohibit discriminatory practices in residential housing.  In addition, this area houses the Office of the Common Interest Community Ombudsman, which serves as an information resource for community association members and offers non-binding interpretations of laws and regulations governing associations.

This service area aligns directly with the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation’s mission to protect the public health, safety and welfare through enforcement of laws that demand professional compliance, competence and conduct.

Title 54.1, Subtitle I. General Provisions Relating to Regulatory Boards

Title 54.1, Subtitle II. Professions and Occupations Regulated by the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation and Boards within the Department

Virginia Administrative Code, Title 18, Professional and Occupational Licenses

Title 2.2, Subtitle I, Part C. State Agencies Related to the General Operation of Government

Title 2.2, Subtitle I, Part E. State Officers and Employees

Title 2.2, Subtitle II. Part B. Transaction of Public Business

Title 13.1, Corporations

Title 36, Chapter 5.1 (Virginia Fair Housing Law)

Title 55, Chapter 4.1 (Horizontal Property)

Title 55, Chapter 4.2 (Condominium Act)

Title 55, Chapter 19 (Subdivided Land Sales Act)

Title 55, Chapter 21 (Virginia Real Estate Time-Share Act)

Title 55, Chapter 24 (Virginia Real Estate Cooperative Act)

Title 55, Chapter 26 (Property Owners’ Association Act)

Title 55, Chapter 27 (Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act)

Title 55, Chapter 27.2 (Real Estate Settlements)

Title 55, Chapter 27.3 (Real Estate Settlement Agents)

Title 55, Chapter 28 (Commercial Real Estate Broker's Lien Act)

Title 55, Chapter 29 (Common Interest Community Management Information Fund)

12 USC 3301 et seq. (Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act)

15 USC 2601 et seq. (Toxic Substances Control Act)

15 USC 6300 et seq. (Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996, amended by the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act effective 6/26/00)

42 USC 3601 et seq. (Federal Fair Housing Act)

Application and form design

Alternative dispute resolution

Case management (compliance tracking and documentation)

Common Interest Community Ombudsman determinations

Communications and community outreach

Complaint intake and analysis

Customer assistance

Disciplinary informal fact-finding conferences

Employee development

Investigation of regulatory, fair housing and unlicensed activity complaints

Legislative analysis

Quality assurance and performance measures

Records/information management

Recovery fund claims processing

The major source of funding for this service area is licensing fees charged to applicants and regulants. Fee amounts are established for each board to provide revenues and cash reserves that are sufficient for operating expenses, but not excessive. Revenues from fees pay the expenses of each board and a proportionate share of agency operations, including enforcement activities conducted on behalf of the board. In addition, about 30% of the funding for Fair Housing enforcement activity is provided from federal grants. This service area is funded entirely from non-general funds.

The administrative services area provides efficient and effective operational support to all functional areas of the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation.

This service area aligns with the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation's mission to serve and protect the public by providing efficient and effective support to all agency licensure and enforcement functions with many administrative work units collaborating to enhance overall Department efficiency. While administrative services supports primarily internal customers; the service area aligns directly with the agency mission to serve and protect the public, in sections that service a variety of external customers (e.g., customer assistance, community outreach, public relations, public records/information disclosure and employee recruitment).

Title 54.1, Subtitle I. General Provisions Relating to Regulatory Boards

Title 54.1, Subtitle II. Professions and Occupations Regulated by the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation and Boards within the Department

Title 2.2, Subtitle 1, Part C. State Agencies Related to the General Operation of Government

Title 2.2, Subtitle II. Part B. Transaction of Public Business

Title 44, Chapter 3.2 Emergency Services and Disaster Laws

Application and form design

Budget and financial management

Business continuity planning

Communications and community outreach

Customer assistance

Employee benefits administration

Employee development

Employee recruitment and succession planning

Facilities management and visitor access control

Information technology and systems development

Legislative analysis

Mail processing and delivery

Policy analysis and plan development

Procurement of goods and services

Quality assurance and performance measurement

Records/information management

Recovery fund claims processing

Risk management

Supply inventory management

The source of funding for this service area is licensing fees charged to applicants and regulants. Fee amounts are established for each board to provide revenues and cash reserves that are sufficient for operating expenses, but not excessive. Revenues from fees pay the expenses of each board and a proportionate share of agency operations, including administrative support activities. This service area is funded entirely from non-general funds.