Muda69 Posted January 15, 2020 Share Posted January 15, 2020 https://reason.com/2020/01/15/occupational-licensing-hurts-the-little-guy/ Quote People who want to work should be allowed to work. That includes people who once went to jail. With President Donald Trump's support, Congress spends your money giving ex-cons "employment assistance." Why bother? State laws often make such employment impossible. Courtney Haveman had an alcohol problem. When she was 19, she got a DUI. Then she took a swing at a security guard. "I made dumb decisions," she admits in my new video. "Served three days in jail." Eight years later, and now sober, Courtney enrolled in beauty school. Such schools invite applicants to "turn your interest in beauty into a rewarding career." The schools do provide good careers—to owners of cosmetology schools. In Pennsylvania, where Courtney applied, they typically charge $6,000 tuition and require 1,000 hours of courses. All that training is required by the state to work. Courtney had worked in a salon and wanted to do more. Unfortunately, "doing more" requires not just serving customers well, but getting permission from bureaucrats. Byzantine state laws demand you get a state-approved license before you may become a hairdresser, tour guide, travel agent, house painter, and all sorts of other jobs where customer happiness should be the guide. So after taking hundreds of hours of cosmetology courses, Courtney paid more to apply for a Pennsylvania cosmetology license. Pennsylvania then told her she couldn't do cosmetology there because she has a criminal record. The bureaucrats said she could appeal. She could prove she has good moral character. "I sent letters, and people in my 12-step program wrote letters on my behalf, character letters," she says. The result? "They sent me a rejection letter that said, 'Sorry. You lack the good moral character requirement'," says Courtney. "One time in my life that I felt like a productive member of society, I was proud of myself…people were proud of me, and then it was just like, you're not good enough still." This is wrong. Courtney did her time—all three days of it. She should be allowed the "second chance" that politicians keep promising former prisoners. Her arrest was eight years ago. She then got sober. Now she sponsors other women in AA. She has a toddler to support. But Pennsylvania says, to protect "public health and safety," she may not practice cosmetology. The rule doesn't "protect" anyone. Barbers don't have to prove they have "good moral character." Courtney is allowed to work as an "assistant." "I'm allowed to touch clients, just not allowed to do what I went to school to do!" says Courtney. She shampoos customers' hair and has intimate contact with them. She's just not allowed to do facials, makeup, waxing—the work she trained for. "Our government makes it extremely difficult for people like me," she says. "People can't just be kicked out of society," says Institute for Justice lawyer Andrew Ward. He took Courtney's case for free because he believes that the cosmetology law is unconstitutional. "Everyone has a right…to pursue their own happiness…a right to engage in any of the common occupations of life." Who benefits from restrictive licensing laws? "It's certainly convenient," says Ward, "that established players have a law that gets to keep new people, that would compete with them, out." Right. Cosmetology boards are dominated by people who run beauty schools. They benefit by making it hard for newcomers to compete for customers by offering better service. The established schools and salons lobby legislators, demanding stringent "safety" requirements. It's "accidental" that they limit competition. Courtney says, "Years of my life have been wasted." She paid to train for a job she is not allowed to do. State licensing rules like Pennsylvania's cosmetology rule don't protect public health. They don't help customers. They crush the little guy and limit competition. Get rid of them. Agreed. These frankly draconian licensing rules/laws need to be repealed. If members of a certain industry want to voluntarily form associations that push their own private licensing rules then by all means they can do so. What we don't need is the state once again choosing the winners and losers. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanteEstonia Posted January 15, 2020 Share Posted January 15, 2020 1 hour ago, Muda69 said: https://reason.com/2020/01/15/occupational-licensing-hurts-the-little-guy/ Agreed. These frankly draconian licensing rules/laws need to be repealed. If members of a certain industry want to voluntarily form associations that push their own private licensing rules then by all means they can do so. What we don't need is the state once again choosing the winners and losers. She shouldn’t have gotten a DUI in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impartial_Observer Posted January 15, 2020 Share Posted January 15, 2020 It appears even getting the DUI expunged is a racket in PA. https://jbmartinlaw.com/how-to-get-a-dui-record-expunged-in-pennsylvania/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muda69 Posted January 15, 2020 Author Share Posted January 15, 2020 30 minutes ago, DanteEstonia said: She shouldn’t have gotten a DUI in the first place. Not the point of the article at all. But nice attempt at deflecting from the real issue. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swordfish Posted January 15, 2020 Share Posted January 15, 2020 I don't feel like we are getting the whole story here IMHO......What else happened in the 8 years after age 19 while she was getting clean and sober? If there was nothing else (ie: no more jail time, no more incidents or offenses, etc) then no, there should be no reason to deny her license. PA is one of the strict states (sitting right beside New York, New Jersey and Baltimore) I have to carry a bi-annual Vehicle Representative as a manufacturer rep. And during lot visits or shows, I better have it in my wallet or face a fine. And I have been checked on 2 occasions during my 32 year career in the state. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanteEstonia Posted January 16, 2020 Share Posted January 16, 2020 9 hours ago, Muda69 said: Not the point of the article at all. But nice attempt at deflecting from the real issue. A DUI in Nevada can result in the loss of a teaching license; no reason why other professions shouldn’t face the same consequences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muda69 Posted January 16, 2020 Author Share Posted January 16, 2020 12 hours ago, DanteEstonia said: A DUI in Nevada can result in the loss of a teaching license; no reason why other professions shouldn’t face the same consequences. Sure, if that license is granted by a private, non-government entity. You still haven't given a good reason why it has to be government in the licensing business. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impartial_Observer Posted January 16, 2020 Share Posted January 16, 2020 36 minutes ago, Muda69 said: Sure, if that license is granted by a private, non-government entity. You still haven't given a good reason why it has to be government in the licensing business. Plenty of studies on the economic impact of licensing, bottom line it costs the consumer more because it restricts the labor pool. Some studies indicate that licensing is particularly harmful to the lower income segment of the population. The OP is certainly an example of this. Young single mom and can't get a job based on some arbitrary law. Licensing comes in all shapes and sizes, for instance look at plumbers, you can have a large plumbing firm all working under the umbrella of the owners license. That doesn't guarantee your crapper isn't going to back up just like it did before they sent a flunkie out to fix it the first time. Then they're marriage licenses.....that panned out well. What is really interesting to me is as union membership has fallen dramatically, licensing requirements have risen dramatically. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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