Lust For Licensure

I honestly think that one of these days someone is going to propose requiring a Missouri license to hypnotize chickens. During this year’s legislative session in Jefferson City, the quest to unnecessarily license new occupations continues. Next up: home health care agencies, electricians statewide, and expanded licensing rules for landscape workers. None of these new or expanded regulations are justified.

Did you know that areas with stricter electrician licensing actually have higher rates of electrocution? It’s true. Licensing increases costs, increased costs lead to more do-it-yourself work, and that leads to more accidents. Similarly, is there a current crisis in Missouri regarding landscaping that I am oblivious to?

Missouri has fewer licensed occupations than other states. We should be proud of that. Simply put, all of the occupations that have some sort of legitimate role for licensing are already licensed at the state or local level. We need to be removing unnecessary licenses and making it more difficult to implement new ones. When it comes to licensing rules in Missouri, we need to pass rules setting demonstrated needs and benefits before new occupations can be licensed. We don’t need to add new occupations to an already too-long list.