My latest research brief has the details on Ohio becoming the latest state to join the De-Licensing Revolution, which North Carolina has yet to do.

In 2013, my Carolina Cronyism report on North Carolina’s occupational licensing system concluded with several reform proposals. Among them were:

5. Enact sunset provisions with periodic review for current licensing boards

The idea of once licensed, always licensed would be poor public policy; periodically reviewing the add-ons of state government is good public policy to ensure that things thought necessary years ago are still a going concern. The legislature should have all licensing boards slated to sunset (a set number per year) in order to ensure that their ongoing existence can be justified. …

6. Enact sunrise provisions for any future licensing board

Placing more job categories under state licensure is an aggressive act that should be done circumspectly and with proper deliberation to demonstrate it is absolutely necessary. A principle of If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it should apply. Creating a new licensing board should happen only after it has been demonstrated that there is a decided health, safety, or quality issue in the market that warrants licensure to solve. So those who favor the creation of a new board should be statutorily required to prove, rather than merely allege, that the board would indeed “safeguard the public health, safety and welfare and to protect the public from being harmed by unqualified persons” before the formation of the board could be complete. This proof should describe what the alternatives to licensing were and why they were discarded and should include an objective economic analysis by a disinterested third party.

Read here to see how Ohio had adopted those very reforms.