Bill Description: Senate Bill 1109 would allow the occupational licensing review committee to continue serving as the gatekeeper for new occupational licensure requests. It would also reduce the frequency for reviewing existing licensure requirements.
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Does it increase barriers to entry into the market? Examples include occupational licensure, the minimum wage, and restrictions on home businesses. Conversely, does it remove barriers to entry into the market?
A few years ago, the Legislature passed a bill to create Section 67-9408, Idaho Code, which established its "occupational and professional licensure review committee." This legislative committee was given two years to "conduct sunrise reviews" and provide a report to the Legislature in 2023. The section also said, "The legislature may take subsequent action to extend the duration of the committee's sunrise review responsibilities or to make them permanent."
A "sunrise review" is defined in statute as a review of a request, typically coming from industry insiders, "that a lawful profession or occupational group that is not licensed become licensed." In effect, this licensure review committee has become the gatekeeper for new occupational licensing efforts in Idaho.
Senate Bill 1109 would strike the language regarding the two-year period of sunrise reviews, thereby keeping this review system in place.
Occupational licensure is unwarranted government intrusion that creates barriers to entry into the market, and although we only have two years from which to draw conclusions, it appears that the existence of the licensure review committee has helped to reduce efforts to implement new occupational licensure mandates in Idaho.
The committee was also tasked with performing "sunset reviews" of each existing licensing authority starting in 2022. According to existing statute, "each licensing authority shall be reviewed at least every five (5) years."
Senate Bill 1109 would reduce the frequency of these sunset reviews from at least once every 5 years to at least once every 10 years. Reducing how often the committee reviews existing occupational licensure mandates in Idaho could make it more difficult to abolish these unwarranted government-created barriers to market participation.
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