Occupational licensing has gotten completely out of hand

Want a great local example of big government? How about our states “Occupational Licensing” rules.

Wesley Hottot, an attorney for the Institute for Justice, joined the show Wednesday and spoke about how licensing restrictions directly affect people in our community. Wesley spoke about a woman in Kent who is an African hair braider. She decided to open a store and make a living hair braiding.

In 2012, an inspector tried to shut her business down because she didn’t have a cosmetology license. They wanted her to go to a private beauty school for 1,600 hours, which is ten times the number of hours to become an animal control officer, an EMT and a security guard in this area combined.

She already had the skill but the state was forcing her to get a license. The Institute for Justice sued the state and got them to back down.

You need more training in this state to become a beauty technician than an EMT!

The amount of time and cost to pay for these licenses is exorbitant. It takes an average of 9 months to get these licenses and you incur lost time from work while you get these things.

We need to point these things out at our dinner tables and among friends to show the overreach of big government and how it affects our friends and neighbors.

As always, please listen to the full audio clip for complete context.