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Governors & Lawmakers Successfully Remove Barriers To Work In 2020

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Many Americans have taken to social media to express exasperation and depression over the state of national politics following the first debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. There are two reasons why such concerns are overblown: 1) Acrimonious and contentious debate is nothing new in American politics, dating back to the founding fathers. 2) Though it doesn’t generate as much news coverage as political discord, there is a functional side of American politics, one which has been on display in recent weeks and months with the spread of a bipartisan reform that is helping put people back to work. 

This significant reform movement was kicked off in 2019, when Arizona Governor Doug Ducey (R) signed into law the nation’s first universal recognition bill for licensed occupations. The universal license recognition legislation enacted by Governor Ducey and state lawmakers allows new Arizona residents who already have proper occupational licensing and certification in another state, and who have remained in good standing in their previous state for at least a year, to have their out-of-state license recognized for the purposes of earning a living in Arizona. 

“New Arizonans who hold licenses will no longer be punished for trying to make their career in the Grand Canyon State—and that’s an important sign that Arizona is a place that truly recognizes the importance of hard work,” said Jenna Bentley, director of government affairs with the Goldwater Institute, on the day Governor Ducey signed this reform into law. 

Six other states — Pennsylvania, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Iowa, and Missouri — have followed Arizona’s lead in the last 17 months by enacting similar universal recognition legislation permitting out-of-state license holders to get to work in their new states.

Though the exact legislative language varies from state to state, all these reforms allow new transplants who already hold an occupational license in another state and have been practicing in good standing there to continue earning a living in their new place of residence. Missouri Governor Mike Parson (R) signed a bill on July 6 making Missouri the seventh and most recent state to enact a universal licensing law. “By expanding license reciprocity” Governor Parson said, the Show Me State “will eliminate governmental barriers to employment and allow citizens to become licensed faster when moving or needing to find work.”

Expect other states to follow the lead of Governors Parson and Ducey by passing universal license recognition legislation in 2021. In fact, Missouri lawmakers who shepherded this reform through their state legislature with bipartisan support recently participated in an online panel hosted by the Badger Institute in which they advised Wisconsin legislators and policy advisors as to how and why they should consider implementing this same reform in Wisconsin. 

Missouri Representative Derek Grier (R) stressed a feature unique to Missouri’s universal recognition bill, which is that it allows people to apply for license recognition prior to moving to Missouri. Rep. Grier explained to his counterparts in Wisconsin how this makes it so new residents “can plug in right away,” and so workers won’t “be hindered by the government so long as the there are no health, safety, and wellness concerns.”

Another piece of legislation considered to be a model for occupational licensing reform was enacted In June when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed into law House Bill 1193, the Occupational Freedom and Opportunity Act. According to the Institute for Justice, this legislation “repeals more occupational licensing laws than any licensing reform ever passed by any other state."

“The bill fully repeals some of the state's most unnecessary licensing laws, including those that previously governed interior designers, hair braiders, and boxing match timekeepers,” Reason Magazine’s Eric Boehm reported about HB 1193. “It loosens the state's cosmetology licensing laws to allow a wide range of hair and nail styling activities to take place outside of licensed salons—a particularly timely reform in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, as it will pave the way for stylists to make house calls.” 

The Florida bill also includes a universal license recognition provision for certain jobs. “Barbers and cosmetologists licensed in other states will be allowed to practice their trades in Florida without having to get re-licensed, and the law instructs the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation to begin the process of identifying other professions where similar reciprocity could be offered,” Boehm adds. 

These reforms are evidence of the growing bipartisan recognition that too often occupational licensing requirements serve as unjust barriers to employment sold under the auspices of protecting public safety. These impediments to employment are not pain free. “Not only do state occupational licensing laws force people to spend a lot of time and money earning a license instead of earning a living, they also impose real economic costs,” explains a 2018 Institute for Justice report by Drs. Morris Kleiner & Evgeny Vorotnikov. 

“By a conservative measure of lost economic value, licensing may cost the national economy $6 billion,” Professors Kleiner & Vorotnikov conclude. “However, a broader and likely more accurate measure suggests the true cost may reach $184 billion or more. At the state level, the broader measure finds losses ranging from $675 million (Rhode Island) to over $22 billion (California).”

Approximately 19% of Americans work in a licensed profession today, which is a significant increase from the 1950s, when roughly five percent of work­ers held licenses. The impediment to employment and economic growth posed by licensing requirements was acknowledged by the Obama administration in a 2015 White House report, and has since been addressed by governors and state lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats. 

More than 20 states introduced some form of universal license recognition legislation in 2020. Four states — Ohio, Louisiana, Mississippi, an Indiana — enacted universal licensing recognition legislation for military families. If present trends continue, governors and legislators in more states, both blue and red, will also move to repeal occupational licensing requirements and to recognize those obtained in another states.

“Universal recognition is the right reform at the right time. With so many Americans out of work, state lawmakers should act swiftly to break down the regulatory barriers that can stand between workers and their right to earn a living,” said Heather Curry, director of strategic engagement at the Goldwater Institute. “Recognizing the out-of-state qualifications of skilled, licensed professionals is an essential and commonsense step for policymakers in every state.” 

In the first year since universal licensing was enacted in Arizona, more than 1,600 new workers have already applied for and been granted a license to work. Many more Americans will benefit from this reform in the coming year. At a time of strained budgets, universal license recognition is a no cost way for governors and lawmakers to make their state more welcoming to new residents and more conducive to job creation. This is progress that won’t be deterred by nasty presidential debates, nor will it be affected by the outcome of federal elections.

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