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"A.1. Any fund balances currently held in the Dedicated Special Revenue Fund (0900), the Common Interest Community Management Information Fund (0259) and the Special Revenue Fund (0200) shall be held in reserve and may not be dispersed by the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, but shall be applied to offset the anticipated, future costs of restructuring its organization, including additional staffing needs and the replacement or upgrade of the Department's information technology systems requirements as listed in (B) and (C) of this Item. Such reserve funds shall be dispersed only to cover expenses of the Department or its regulatory boards as provided in § 54.1-308.
B.1. The Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR) shall conduct a comprehensive assessment of its staffing needs and organizational structure to improve its performance, increase efficiency and effectively conduct its responsibilities and obligations.
2. The purpose of the assessment is to ensure that DPOR has sufficient staffing resources to (i) meet performance goals for processing transactions and handling customer inquiries and (ii) perform employment verifications and on-site audits recommended by JLARC. If the assessment finds additional positions are needed, DPOR should evaluate whether existing part-time positions should be converted to full-time positions and if existing positions elsewhere in DPOR can be reallocated.
3. During its comprehensive assessment the Department shall: (i) consider establishing one or more positions vested with the following agency-wide duties: (a) coordinate and assist in the development of agency regulations; (b) coordinate agency legislative efforts; (c) lead agency communications with external parties; and (d) serve as staff to the Board for Professional and Occupational Regulation (BPOR); (ii) rank all vacant positions based on how critical they are to DPOR's ability to fulfill its responsibilities in order to enable its human resources staff to use the rankings to prioritize the advertising and filling of positions, using hiring processes that reflect best practices; and, (iii) consider reassignment to other divisions the following functions that are currently assigned to the licensing division: (a) handling Freedom of Information Act requests; (b) scanning documents; (c) managing policies and procedures; (d) evaluating business processes; and (e) agency-wide training.
4. The assessment should be submitted to the Department of Planning and Budget and the Chairmen of the House Appropriations Committee and Senate Finance Committee along with the agency's estimated funding needs by November 1, 2019.
C.1. In consultation and cooperation with the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA) and the Commonwealth's Chief Data Officer, the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR) shall develop a plan to replace or upgrade the current information technology system, including the licensing system, utilized by the Department. At a minimum, the new or improved information technology system should have the capacity to do the following: (i) accept and process applications and payments online; (ii) improve the ease of online renewals; and (iii) integrate licensing data with enforcement case management data. The plan should identify the expected staffing needs during and after the system upgrade or replacement project, how staffing needs will be met, and the cost of the proposed upgrade or project.
2. When developing the plan to replace or upgrade the current information technology system, including the licensing system, the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR) shall consider the transfer of information technology-related responsibilities for its licensing system and technical aspects of website management, records management, and electronic forms, from the licensing division to the Information Technology division.
3. The plan should be submitted to the Department of Planning and Budget and the Chairmen of the House Appropriations Committee and Senate Finance Committee along with the agency's estimated funding needs by November 1, 2019."