News and Commentary
Florida is getting closer to passing legislation that would cut licensing requirements. The Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee unanimously approved the bill two weeks ago and has now cleared another bill through a committee aiming to ensure license uniformity across the state.
Massachusetts is looking to increase teacher diversity with an additional way to receive a license than the current exam system. Such a policy could pay off down the road; an NBER working paper from 2018 found significant long-term education gains for black students randomly assigned a teacher of the same race.
The Wisconsin Examiner reports that a bill requiring ‘sunrise reports’ to evaluate new licenses before they’re put to vote is currently being amended. The amendment by State Rep. Rob Hutton puts the evaluation into the hands of the Legislative Audit Bureau and set a 270-day window to investigate free of legislative action.
In Tennessee, the owner of a beauty school has pushed back on a bill killed in the Senate that would eliminate cosmetology licenses among other professional licenses. Of course, as the bill’s sponsor stated in the article, consumers should have the choice to pick cheaper unlicensed services if they so desire.
Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas is creating a working group to study licensing and recommend measures to streamline and reform the certification process.
The Kansas state senate is also seeing similar efforts to organize around occupational licensing reforms.
Shoshana Weissmann and Jarrett Dieterle write in the Washington Examiner about the Arizona model for occupational licensing and how it could improve interstate movement. They point to the rise in licensed jobs over past decades and argue reforms would enable greater interstate migration and opportunity for workers.
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