What’s At Risk?

Calls to eliminate or weaken licensing make no distinction for highly complex, technical professionals with high public impact. These broad-brush proposals would sweep up these professions along with a host of vocations and occupations. This has real—and negative—repercussions for the general public, individual consumers, and professionals.

4 CONSEQUENCES OF WEAKENING PROFESSIONAL LICENSING STANDARDS
1
Puts the public at risk.

Our professions oversee the physical integrity of public and private spaces, and the fiscal integrity of financial systems. Eliminating licensing would eliminate the critical training and qualifications necessary for work that directly impacts public safety, trust and welfare. Errors in designing a bridge or building or certifying a corporate audit are not small matters that can be remedied by a bad Yelp review. Our work must be done correctly the first time.

2
Leaves consumers on their own and ill-equipped to determine qualifications.

Professional licensing is an important indicator of a baseline level of expertise and qualification. Without professional licensing, the burden of evaluating qualifications and competency would shift from expert licensing boards to individual consumers. Consumers seeking to hire an architect, engineer, or CPA would be left on their own to assess the professionals’ abilities. This is an unreasonable and dangerous burden for consumers without the expertise to verify the competency of the person they are hiring. 

Additionally, absent licensing, ensuring qualifications on the front-end would be replaced with case-by-case litigation when something goes wrong. This approach is inefficient and costly for consumers and importantly, it does nothing to prevent other consumers from hiring the same unqualified professional.

3
Ignores the critical role licensing plays in continued education, enforcement, compliance, and remedies.

Licensing is about more than entry into a profession. Licensing boards provide the systems for ongoing education for professionals—critical in professions that must stay current with complicated and changing codes—and the means for enforcing standards and sanctioning bad actors. Weakening licensing would diminish the ability of the licensing boards to establish, verify, and enforce necessary expertise.

4
Threatens career mobility and destroys good licensing models that are working.

Weakening licensing standards on a state-by-state basis will destroy the confidence in qualifications and completely disrupt existing mobility models. States will be less inclined to accept out-of-state licenses if some states have rigorous requirements and some states have weak requirements. This uniformity of standards establishes a baseline of trust in the qualifications of practitioners from other states that makes it possible for professionals to move from one state to another and have their license acknowledged.  

The result: it will become more difficult for professionals to move and maintain their careers across states.

Responsible Licensing Works

Our professions have responsible licensing models that are working and already address many of the outcomes deregulation bills seek. Responsible models work because they recognize the unique distinctions across professions and leave the establishment of standards to those with first-hand knowledge and expert understanding of the profession. While there is no single, perfect professional licensing model, those that are most successful for both professionals and the public share common characteristics. These include:

Mobility & Reciprocity
While many professions have different licensing models that offer varying degrees of mobility, it is important that responsible models give professionals assurance that their license will be recognized in different jurisdictions, without having to return to school for significant hours.
Uniformity Within Professions
Responsible licensing means professionals know what qualifications are required of them regardless of where they enter the profession or where they currently practice. Substantially uniform standards within each profession’s licensure system are critical for mobility, for ensuring people enter a profession with the same qualifications, and for allowing a clear career path.
High, Consistent Standards
Professional licensing conveys to the public that professionals have a baseline of minimum qualifications upon which the public can depend. Regardless of where the professional practices, there is a consistent standard of education, examination, and experience. The license also conveys a commitment to ongoing education, professional development, and a code of ethics. 
Protections for the Public
Licensing systems are about more than entry into a profession. Good licensing systems should also protect the public from unqualified practitioners by providing a means to enforce qualifications and to act on the public’s behalf to investigate and sanction bad actors. 
Our approaches to licensing are serving the public and professionals well. These models should be preserved, not destroyed.