After thinking long and hard I am against increaseing the CE hour 2 more hours unless there is more support from VALVT for yearly conferences. Most LVTs are under paid and cannot afford to pay for CE hours, I am lucky I am not one of them. Also no not all hospitals pay for CE or even give time off to go.  There are really not enough free CEs (on line or actually go to a conference) to allow LVTs to continue to take them for free year after year.  I live in Northern Viriginia, I believe the last time VALVT came up into our area and sponsored a coference was in 2006 or 2007.  You want to increase the hours then help your members in all of Viriginia not just the Blue Ridge area get some CE hours.  We as a group look at ourselves as professional, but our state does not. If you look at the the fact that most LVTs are underpaid and over worked because employers do not want to pay you over time, but you still have to be at work anyway; so you go to salary then work 45-50 hours a week with no compensation. You want to call yourself professionals then VALVT fight to have LVTs exempt like the doctors are so we get paid for the hours we work.  Also, while I am thinking of it, to be professionals why not fight for us to STOP allowing lay people (assistants) do skills that we went to school for? For example: drawing blood, dentals, injections, monitoring anesthesia to name a few areas. This would truly show that we as a group are professionals like doctors.  Then increase our CE hours.