(2024-10-30) Zvim Occupational Licensing Roundup1

Zvi Mowshowitz: Occupational Licensing Roundup #1. We’re coming out firmly against it.

I’ve been collecting these for a while. It’s time.

Campaign Talk
Harris-Walz platform includes a little occupational licensing reform, as a treat.

Universal Effects and Recognition

Occupational licensing decreases the number of Black men in licensed professions by up to 19%, and the number of Black women up to 22%. There is also the headline finding, which is that overall labor supply is reduced 17%-27%. Hopefully this can defeat some talking points or get through some of the damage being done.

*A new report from the Knee Center shows 26 states have passed universal recognition policies since 2013. Read more here.

This is really great, everyone needs to get on this to the maximum extent possible.*

The obvious follow up is indeed ‘why only military’? License portability should be universal.

25% of Colorado jobs require a government license. They are at least opening up those jobs to some of the people with criminal records after three years via House Bill 1004. Better yet, we could scrap the requirements entirely.

I like this new framing from The Atlantic, calling occupational licensing ‘permission slip culture.’

Construction

Connecticut requires occupational licensing to work ‘in the trades’ such as construction, which is leading to a worker shortage

Doctors and Nurses

Doctors from abroad permitted to practice in Tennessee starting 2025, other states following suit. Yes, this is the right thing to do given a shortage, also without a shortage

*This seems pretty great:

Scott Lincicome: New paper: State laws granting nurse practitioners full practice authority (FPA) “reduces total health care costs for diabetics by approximately 20% in urban areas and reduces rural usage of advanced medical services for diabetics by about 10%.”*

Florists

No more florist licensing in Louisiana!

*The origins of reform have a really horrible story.

Elderly widow Sandy Meadows died in poverty because the government wouldn’t let her be a florist.

After Meadows’ husband passed away, she had little money or education. She found a way to support herself by managing the floral department of a local grocery — until Louisiana Horticulture Commission threatened to shut down it down unless it hired a licensed florist.*

Seriously, burn it all to the ground. No occupational licenses for anything. Nuke from orbit. Only way to be sure. Replace with insurance requirements where it feels necessary

Fortune Telling

despite its widespread popularity, fortune-telling and related arts are indeed illegal in Pennsylvania

Selling astrology readings and tarot readings are illegal, too.

There is a strong argument for the level of enforcement we see described here. The whole thing is centrally a fraud.

However, this goes hand in hand with actually malicious fraud, as the way (at least) many fortune-tellers and other such folks make most of their money is to sell high priced services to vulnerable victims who they very much defraud and prey upon.

Hair

*By default you get things like this, and they say it like they are proud of it.

Governor Ned Lamont (D-Connecticut): By requiring inclusive hair education for cosmetology licenses, we can ensure that all hair types and textures are properly cared for.*

Olivia French in DC, who was appointed by Mayor Bowser, has been ‘selling cosmetology and barber licenses to unqualified students for thousands of dollars.’

*The reason to require a license is if reputational effects don’t work…

Among the Wildflowers: There is NO reason we should require cosmetologists to have a license*

It seems that there is a federal rule that to get financial aid for your unnecessary occupational licensing training, the hours of training from the program have to match the required hours. That’s an obvious sign that no one cares about actually teaching things

none of this makes any sense whatsoever. 600 hours to become a Manicurist? What? New York requires 250, even that seems utterly crazy

Lawyers

*It is bold to write the case that The World Needs More Lawyers. Given what I keep paying when I need lawyers in order to safely do regular business, one could make a case. What we need is not more lawyers. We need more ability to do legal work.

One way to do that is more lawyers. The post has better suggestions.*

Four states have stopped requiring the bar exam to practice law. This is being reported as a DEI-run-rampant story, whereas it is actually a DEI-allows-sanity story. Yes, obviously the bar exam like all licensing requirements is an ‘unnecessary block’ to Black individuals becoming attorneys, because it is such a block for all people looking to become attorneys.

Magicians

*I can’t believe this exists

OCCUPATIONAL LICENSING FOR MAGICIANS*

Military Spouses

Colorado signs bill for licensing recognition for military spouses, making it easy to get their out-of-state credentials respected. The obvious question is why not do this for everyone, but I’ll take it.

Mountain Climbing

The youngest woman to climb all of the world’s 14 tallest peaks calls for novices to be regulated.

Music

I… think… this is real? A law introduced in Kentucky to license music therapists? As in, people who play recorded music?

Nurses

Newsom vetoed two bills that would have allowed some community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees in nursing, a contentious idea in the state’s rigid higher-ed system despite nursing shortages

*Preston Cooper: “The California State University opposes both bills, viewing them as undermining a promise lawmakers made two years ago that community colleges wouldn’t issue bachelor’s degrees that duplicate existing Cal State programs.”

Cartels gonna cartel.*

Physical Therapists

New York is going to require physical therapists to hold doctorates (60 more credits than previously required).

Whatever Could Be Causing All This Rent Seeking

Shoshana Weissmann: Actual inbox from someone who runs license testing in FL: “There is nothing wrong keeping people from other states from stealing construction business from already established, licensed and insured Florida contractors.”

Tornado Relief

Volunteer Tree-Trimmer Fined $275, Told to Leave Minneapolis, After Helping Tornado Victims Outside His Assigned Area

Pretty Much Everything

Legal Style Blog: The list of businesses which require a licence in Los Angeles County is hilariously specific. Bookstores, rifle ranges, ambulettes, hog ranches, taxi dancers (are there any in 2024?), peddlers, bottlewashing, raw horsemeat