Columbus, OH – On Wednesday, The Buckeye Institute testified (see full text below or download a PDF) before the Ohio House State and Local Government Committee on the policies in House Bill 203, which would embrace universal occupational license recognition for people moving to Ohio.  

In his testimony, Logan Kolas, an economic policy analyst at the Economic Research Center at The Buckeye Institute, highlighted that House Bill 203 builds on policies enacted last year in the Buckeye-inspired Senate Bill 7 and goes on to point out that “Ohio’s current occupational licensing regime hinders job growth across the state and prevents trained, licensed professionals from pursuing their careers here.”

FACT SHEET: Zero Barriers: Reducing Ohio’s Occupational Licensing Burden

Noting that Buckeye research has shown that “high fees and training requirements reduce an occupation’s job growth by 20 percent,” Kolas testified that Ohio’s onerous licensing provisions make the state “less competitive, less prosperous, and less attractive to entrepreneurs and their employees.” This view is shared by Professor Morris Kleiner, the AFL-CIO chair in labor policy at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, who estimated “that Ohio lost more than 67,000 total jobs…due to occupational licensing.”

More recent Buckeye research extolls the benefits of universal occupational licensing recognition and Kolas notes that “[w]ould-be Ohioans with comparable out-of-state licenses in good standing should not have to pay additional fees or take expensive, extraneous classes that do not make them any more qualified for or capable of doing their jobs.”

Kolas urged lawmakers to follow the lead of Arizona, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Utah and adopt universal occupational license recognition, saying, “House Bill 203’s licensing recognition…will help Ohio by helping would-be Ohio workers pursue careers and professions here.”

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Universal License Recognition: Welcoming New Workers to Ohio

Interested Party Testimony
Ohio House State and Local Government Committee
House Bill 203

Logan Kolas, Economic Policy Analyst
The Buckeye Institute
May 5, 2021

As Prepared for Delivery

Thank you, Chairman Wiggam, Vice Chair John, Ranking Member Kelly, and members of the Committee, for the opportunity to testify regarding House Bill 203. 

My name is Logan Kolas. I am the economic policy analyst at the Economic Research Center at The Buckeye Institute, an independent research and educational institution—a think tank—whose mission is to advance free-market public policy in the states.

In many ways, House Bill 203 builds on policies enacted last year in Senate Bill 7, which grants the spouses of active-duty military men and women who relocate to Ohio recognition for their valid out-of-state occupational licenses. That commonsense license recognition allows military spouses to continue working in their chosen profession. The Buckeye Institute supported the policies in Senate Bill 7 and supports the policies in House Bill 203. 

Occupational licensing laws may especially burden military families, but they are not the only professionals burdened when making Ohio their home. Ohio’s current occupational licensing regime hinders job growth across the state and prevents trained, licensed professionals from pursuing their careers here. It tells licensed professionals that their skills are not welcome here. Onerous licensing provisions require workers to ask the government for permission to earn a living, and they make Ohio less competitive, less prosperous, and less attractive to entrepreneurs and their employees. 

As The Buckeye Institute explained in Forbidden to Succeed: How Licensure Laws Hold Ohioans Back, high fees and training requirements reduce an occupation’s job growth by 20 percent because prospective workers who cannot afford to enter the occupation remain unemployed or underemployed. 

Professor Morris Kleiner, the AFL-CIO chair in labor policy at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, has testified that he and Alan Krueger, the former head of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors, calculated that licensing laws cost between a half and one percent of jobs nationally in 2010. More recently, Dr. Kleiner and his co-author estimated that Ohio lost more than 67,000 total jobs—equal to Ohio’s average annual job growth—due to occupational licensing.

Such job loss likely contributes to the state’s emigration problems. In survey after survey, Ohio still ranks among the top ten states with the most outbound migration, an exodus that has now cost Ohio yet another congressional seat. Changing the occupational licensing regime will help reverse this trend.

In Universal Licensing Reciprocity: How to Welcome Workers to Ohio and a related one-pager, The Buckeye Institute has extolled the benefits of House Bill 203’s universal occupational licensing recognition. Without getting into the weeds of the issue, universal licensing recognition will make it easier for people with comparable licenses in other states to come to Ohio and start or continue their careers. Would-be Ohioans with comparable out-of-state licenses in good standing should not have to pay additional fees or take expensive, extraneous classes that do not make them any more qualified for or capable of doing their jobs. Instead, House Bill 203 would eliminate employment barriers, make Ohio more “open for business” for licensed professionals, and still protect public health and safety by ensuring that any necessary Ohio-specific knowledge is obtained and proven.

Ohio would not be the first state to embrace universal recognition. Arizona, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Utah already have enacted laws that allow for universal, unilateral licensing recognition. Ohio should follow their lead.

This Committee has reduced permission-slip burdens imposed on workers before, establishing the occupational licensing review process under Senate Bill 255—also championed by The Buckeye Institute. House Bill 203’s licensing recognition builds upon that vital effort and will help Ohio by helping would-be Ohio workers pursue careers and professions here.

Thank you for your time and attention. I would be happy to answer any questions that the Committee might have.

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