occupational licensing

In 2019, Arizona became the first state to require that state licensing agencies recognize an equivalent license issued by another state and issue a reciprocal license to practice in Arizona.
Ryan Crownholm, who owns and operates MySitePlan.com, was issued a $1,000 citation and asked to suspend his business operations after a California professional licensing board claimed that Crownholm and his company illegally practiced land surveying without a state-mandated occupational license. 
Licensing restrictions are housed in individual states' statutory or administrative laws. At first, these seemingly innocent laws appear to simply define what a specific occupation is and what a practitioner of the occupation may do as well as establish conditions for entry into an occupation. However, there is a sinister side to occupational licensing.
The birthplace of a person bears little to no relationship on that individual’s ability to dutifully carry out the requirements of various professional roles. Yet for years, many states have utilized citizen status as a barrier to keep individuals from obtaining state-mandated occupational licenses. 
Libertas has long documented the detrimental effects of occupational licensing. This form of government regulation stifles economies and creates a stringent, artificial class system via economic protectionism. Unfortunately, in conversations relating to reforming occupational licensing laws, many overlook solutions outside of simply slashing various licensing requirements.
Picture this. A young man falls into poverty and, out of desperation, resorts to petty theft in order to help feed his family. He gets caught and is sentenced to a few months in prison as punishment for committing a Class B misdemeanor.

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