A legislative subcommittee has produced draft legislation that would sunset 15 occupational licensing boards in North Carolina. The move would also eliminate state licensure in job categories regulated by those boards.
Boards that would sunset under the legislation from the Occupational Licensing Board Oversight subcommittee of the Joint Legislative Administrative Procedure Oversight (APO) Committee include those for:
- Electrologists and laser hair practitioners
- Fee-based practicing pastoral counselors
- Interpreters and transliterators
- Irrigation contractors
- Recreational therapists
- Acupuncturists
- Athletic trainers
- Foresters
- Locksmiths
- Podiatrists
- Alarm system installers
- Employee assistance professionals
- Perfusionists
- Public librarians
With respect to licensing, additional portions of the bill would look to consolidate licenses and direct the APO committee to continue studying eliminating and consolidating licenses and also deregulating occupations regulated by the state.
Such a move would be welcome news, for reasons I’ve made explicit in blog posts, newsletters, reports, and official testimony.
For those interested in learning more about occupational licensing, I invite you to read the following two John Locke Foundation reports:
- “Voluntary Certification: An economically robust, freedom-minded reform of occupational licensing,” Spotlight No. 46, April 9, 2015
- “Guild By Association: N.C.’s Aggressive Occupational Licensing Hurts Job Creation and Raises Consumer Costs,” Carolina Cronyism series, Spotlight No. 427, January 28, 2013
