News and Commentary
The U.S. Marine Corps is following the lead set by the Air Force and Army by offering the spouses of active-duty military up to $500 in reimbursement costs for licensing and certification fees.
Alabama’s SB 163 would allow ex-cons to petition licensing boards to see if their conviction would bar them from receiving an occupational license, and disallows boards from denying a license solely because of a criminal conviction. As reported by Times Daily, “Occupational licensing boards will say they don’t enforce those laws,” [Senator Cam] Ward said. “Good, let’s get them off the books.””
Following a conference hosted by the John Locke Foundation, Anne Blythe of North Carolina Health News describes the potential for dental therapists, who despite doing “12 percent” of what dentists do, can do that 12% just as well as dentists more cheaply, and provide greater access to underserved populations in the process.
DuPage County, Illinois may require adult business employees to get a license to operate in unincorporated parts of the county. The ad-hoc committee to consider the issue was, in part, created out of concerns for the role such establishments may play in sex trafficking.
In the Centennial State, Governor Jared Polis has vetoed a bill that would continue the licensing requirement for homeowners associations. Writes Alex Muresianu in Reason, the libertarian-leaning Democrat Polis could become a champion for licensing reform within the Democratic Party.
An op-ed by Liba Sigaud, a student of speech language pathology, in The Maine Wire, critiques the state’s occupational licensing requirement for sign language interpreters. Her opinion piece makes all of the best points for licensing reform. (1) The barriers to entry, including fees, are prohibitively expensive (2) there are alternatives to licensing to ensure quality and (3) good ‘ol fashioned market competition and consumer choice can address many of the concerns licensing attempts to.
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