Columbus, OH – Greg R. Lawson, research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, issued the following statement on the need for occupational licensing reform in Ohio. The statement was issued as the Ohio House Government Accountability and Oversight Committee heard testimony on House Bill 289.
“Every license requirement raises a red-tape hurdle for workers to clear before earning a living or starting a new career. Every hour of unpaid training needed to satisfy bureaucratic requirements is an hour not spent earning tips, serving a customer, or opening a business. Those are hours of lost productivity, hours of opportunity that young, low-income workers sorely need, but that the state continues to take for itself.
“This policy proposal starts an important conversation about how to rein in the red tape. Requiring policymakers to use the least restrictive regulation when it finds it necessary to displace competition is wise policy. And establishing a process that empowers legislative panels to weed through Ohio’s overgrown thicket of licensing boards and uproot bureaucratic thistles will allow Ohioans to benefit from the fruits of their labor.
“Ohioans should not have to ask the state for permission to earn a living, and it is past time to end Ohio’s byzantine licensing requirements.”
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