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all right my name is Matt Gagne and I'm the CEO of the Maine Heritage Policy Center and I want to welcome everyone here and thank them for coming to our press conference here today for the release of the let us work resurrecting entrepreneurship by removing barriers to economic opportunity report that's a mouthful but basically it's a look into occupational licensing and an evaluation of exactly what that looks like in the state of Maine and exactly how it's actually holding back people from pursuing their dreams and pursuing economic opportunity I'll get to some of the details that reporting in just a moment we have behind me Jake post SiC the author of this report here to tell you just a little bit more about that example to answer some questions once it's done with those comments about sort of the contents of it but I do want to take just a moment to highlight what a sensitive topic this is because when you're talking about occupational licensing it doesn't sound like the sexiest topic it doesn't sound like the thing that might affect the Maine economy the most but it really does have a gigantic effect on how we earn a living in the state of Maine people are right now in the state thinking about and trying to earn a living in a variety of different economic sectors and are prevented from doing so by some form of barrier that there that's placed in front of that whether it's a licensing fee educational requirements training requirements things that are required of them that are not necessary for the pursuit of their of their field and this is true in industry after industry and after industry and it's really held up by a group of people that are trying to protect their own jobs and stop competition from affecting them the people that benefit the most from licensing regimes across the state are the people that currently hold licenses and so it's in their best economic interests to try to hold out as many competitors as possible and stop them from joining the fun and trying to compete with them and undercut their prices and business that's wrong if you have skill in this state and you'd like to pursue it you should be able to do so without interference from the state unless it has some form of health or safety you know issue that is circulating around that job so to highlight though just how how tough this is you could be and just how much it can affect people and make them fearful of their their we actually probably should quickly break down what this press conference was originally supposed to look like because behind me originally was actually going to be some folks that have experienced this problem they've been trying to get into a certain industry they have the skills to do so they would do a good job and they would compete very well in that industry but we're held down in some fashion and today they are not here because they are afraid of telling their story because the licensing regime that currently exists it would prevent them from actually entering this industry so they they're not here with us today but since they weren't able to join us and being sensitive to who they are and exactly what they they have to face in their in their jobs and their industries I did want to quickly highlight just the story of who they are if not their names and their specific businesses and what they do just the story of them I think probably should communicate just how important this is the first one that was going to join us was actually insurance agent it's a small business owner running a small insurance agency that also offers bank products and mutual fund investments he's been practicing for 39 years and is lucky to have three additional full-time staff fully licensed to do business in all three financial discipline every year he and his staff are asked to do compliance in all three areas which cost him thousands of dollars in time and also fees he reduces all the licensing requirements basically each year in addition to all the continuing education requirements to renew each license so much of the three financial disciplines ethics and so on and so forth are redundant and overreaching from each of the finance financial requirements and courses for each government entity there is no logical reason to maintain these three separate and overlapping systems yet of course they persist because that is what the system does we also were going to hear from a real estate agent who first received their state license in 1973 the business was simple and the banks did everything in-house back then the license was zero dollars for two years got the burgers license in 1975 and enjoyed the business greatly in 1978 however their own real estate company was founded and they expand two four offices and 34 our agents eventually so it grew rather significantly licensing fees and continuing education however continued to grow the state rate is the license fees and made continuing education a molehill into a mountain well the state failed to recognize was that the lack of integrity and morals had reached an all-time low could not continue to develop young couples buying homes that I knew they could not afford the banking industry became rife with mortgage brokers who earned their income by getting approvals at all costs in 2003 had to close the office and walk away from the business entirely this is another experience where their licensing regime is is disincentivizing the right people from being there and holding people however could do a good job there's also a forester that was going to speak to us that was employed in one of the mains paper companies and is working towards being licensed as a forester normally a person will get a four year Forest Management degree and then where two years as an intern under a licensed forester which is a reasonable requirement according to this individual what he was also a logging contractor however for five years and then attended college where he received a bunch Bachelors of Science and conservation law enforcement he worked for ten years getting back into the forest products industry and then became licenses of wood scaler and during that time received an MBA so clearly a highly qualified individual he checked at the state to see what would be required for him to become a licensed as a forester which seems to be something from the story that would be so many skills he already has and not necessary to actually be redundant you've stolen that he has to take the path of an unlicensed individual no experience as a contractor would qualify because it was more than ten years prior and no college education would count because of the degree name even though the subject matter was actually very applicable so again we're talking about sort of arbitrary rules and requirements that really have no place in this particular industry so those are just three quick stories and there's a lot more details to go with each one but you know the thing that really stands out to me is that they're not here they are too afraid of actually telling their story publicly to participate in something like this because they're afraid that they're going to get a life tonight or the three she was gonna come down on them that's that's wrong and that highlights exactly what's wrong with the system so again we are releasing a report about this today we're going to be breaking down all of the different occupations that actually have licenses what those licenses mean and exactly what's wrong with the system and here to tell you a little bit more about the actual contents and details of that report is Jake cosec he is the policy analyst at the Maine heritage Policy Center and is the author of this report and he has a lot more of those details right now Jake thank you Matt good afternoon everybody as matt said my name is Jake guzik I'm the policy analyst at NHPC and I am the primary author of this report in this report we found that Maine actively licenses at least 162 different occupations a figure that swells to more than 200 when you include eight apprenticeship associate instructor and training limited temporary or trainee licenses associated with the profession overall one in four main professionals are required to be licensed a trend that holds at the national level as well the stated purpose of occupational licensing is to protect consumers from unqualified practitioners whose goods and services could cause undue physical harm or financial burden yet Maine license is a number of occupations where the risks of the public are unclear these professions include barbers boxers land surveyors mixed martial arts competitors and sardine Packers among many others Maine also licenses a number of occupations that are licensed and seven or fewer States calling into question the necessity of these licenses these occupations include animal control officers Dietetic technicians electrical helpers funeral attendants log scalers and packagers additionally we found a wealth of data related to the arbitrary nature of occupational licensing laws just touch upon a moment ago among professions where the need for licensing is ambiguous and appear state regulators have aimlessly applied licensing restrictions some states license the same occupation but impose varying levels of education or experience requirements or lending disproportionate fees if you want to legally practice as a barber in New Hampshire you must pass two exams pay 129 dollars in annual fees and acquire 187 days worth of relevant work experience in Maine the experience special for inspiring barber is three hundred and fifty days alone with three exams and forty-one dollars in fees it is not more dangerous to practice as a barber in Maine as opposed to New Hampshire nor is a potential risk to the public any more substantial yet both states impose vastly different licensing requirements on their professionals the average low to moderate-income professional practicing and a licensed occupation and maine must pay a hundred and eighty one dollars and fees to vote two hundred and ninety eight days to training and pass one exam just in order to obtain a license to work in the state of maine in many ways Maine licensing regimes do not pass the straight-faced test log scalers who measure and estimate the value of logs ah required to obtain seven hundred and thirty days or two years of relevant work experience before they can legally practice in Maine it's also worth noting that only made in Idaho license this professional however our emergency medical technicians whose work undoubtedly impacts the health and safety of Maine citizens are only required to obtain 26 days of work experience before practicing in vain our study also highlights a 2013 report by Maine's office of policy and management that amended the repeal of the licensing regimes associated with athletic trainers dietitians Dietetic technicians geologists interior designers landscape architects and soil scientists for having insignificant health and safety benefits inactive Ward's or limited histories of public complaint despite these findings in 2013 all seven professions or main licensed in Maine finally the overwhelming consensus of scholarly research related to occupational licensing or field said licensing does more harm than good unless enacted was extreme parsimony in care licensing has been found to reduce competition inflate the overall cost of goods and services hinder entrepreneurship and primarily impacts low-income individuals whose low-cost alternatives are eliminated through licensing a 2013 study found that occupational licensing and main results in deadweight economic losses of more than two hundred and seventy six million meaning the cost of Licensing in Maine amounts to more than forty seven hundred dollars per household in addition we often talk about what we can do to attract talented people to our state and licensing this is a significant barrier in this regard as most licenses Maine in Maine are not reciprocal across state lines there is no reason why somebody who's been practicing for decades as a licensed professional in another state cannot simply pack up move to Maine and continue practicing I will conclude my remarks today by saying that nobody in this room is suggesting that we should eliminate every occupational license law on the books in Maine however licensing should be limited in scope as a number of regulatory alternatives exist these alternatives such as deceptive trade practice tax inspections bonding or insurance are rarely considered by lawmakers before new licensing regimes are implemented among some licensed occupations in Maine market competition alone could or reduce the health and safety risks associated with a profession if any exist and professionals were the need for licensing is inherent licenses should stay however the scope of occupational licensing in Maine extends far beyond what is truly necessary and is in desperate need of review because as consumers of goods and services in the state of Maine we must all pay the price of occupational licensing and with that said I will turn the podium over to representative Jill Stein Kissel can thank you and thank you for the opportunity today to share a little bit of my perspective on what I feel as much needed to occupational license reform I come with this first and foremost is someone with hands-on experience work worked started a business and created main jobs and residential construction about 30 years and over that time I've held a few different occupational licenses more recently part of my experience comes as a legislator serving on the labor Commerce Research and Economic Development Committee which oversees occupational licensing here I mean as a legislator I've had an opportunity there are many public hearings to see a wide variety of positive and negative issues when it comes to professional licensing the main from these experiences I have seen the professional occupational licensing in Maine has grown well beyond its original intent to protect the health and safety of the public these much-needed common-sense reforms will no doubt be a heavy lift under the current professional licensing culture and I'm here today to lend my support and help in any way I can to achieve these much-needed goals within the car culture and witnessed firsthand that a lot of the general public believe that having to be a licensed professional somehow guarantees quality or competence in my experience it does not having worked on thousands of job sites with contractors from aspect of residential construction won't be surprising to anyone when I say that not all plumbers electricians well drillers or even Realtors are created equal requiring licenses is not and will not change that we need to look into each other looking into each and every profession currently requiring licensing and determine if they truly pose a health and safety risk or not if not what might be better options and a license and all that accompanies one today I want to be clear my support for common-sense reform is not the elimination of all occupational licenses reform is returning to the original intent of occupational licensing as well as making it less expensive and less arduous for people with the skills and education to get to work in their industry I think my barber might be a good example Allen has been in the business for about 40 years how does it make any sense that if he doesn't fill out the paperwork and pay his licensing fee somehow he becomes a risk to the health and safety of the general public on the expurgate expiration date of last year's license not only that he can no longer earn a living doing exactly what he has done for the last 40 years in this protect particular case has licensing gone beyond ensuring the safety of the public might it make more sense for a one-time certification the states that he has required as a required education or experience now from the occupational professional side some of the some have come to believe that having their occupation licensed by the state somehow gives them a sort of stamp of approval or sense of legitimacy for some anything less than the state approved license somehow makes them less valued changing the paradigm for some professionals in the general public that t eir value comes from hard work and putting into service the skills in the edge they have attained the idea that their value does not suddenly materialize from a permission slip in the form of a license from the from a government agency will certainly be a challenge several months ago I got a frantic phone call from a constituent frustrated with navigating the bureaucracy of physic of physically having a copy of the license he achieved a couple of months earlier this young man completed his schooling while working to provide for his family fulfilled the required hours of service and passed the license exam but until he had a copy in hand his employer was enabled to put him to work using those skills which meant a substantial pay raise for the young man and better customer service for his employers clients I was told that ultimately this delay meant thousands of dollars in missed wages for my constituent I believe reducing hard-to-understand red tape and streamlining operations needs to also be a piece of reform for me another very important piece of reform is the cost to the licensee in some cases the cost to hold or maintain a license is more than just the annual fee in one particular case some seasoned professionals testified in a public hearing they they'd worked in their industry for 30 or 40 years they'd hone their skill set to specific areas of their career field and that's all that they dealt with with gradual changes to their licensing requirements there is now mandatory continuing education these folks testified that to maintain the license that they have held for decades they are now required to learn new things that they will never use they also said that in most cases they would have to travel outside of the state at a substantial cost to attend these classes or seminars as well as miss work all of this to be allowed to continue to make a living in their chosen career a one-size-fits-all mandatory approach doesn't seem fair and should be reformed then there is the actual fee paid by licensees and how those fees are used this is a piece of reform that affects all licensees are you being overcharged for permission to use your skills to earn a living are those fees being used for the intended purpose these are very important questions that need to be addressed I would submit that it is a fact that licensees are being substantially overcharged and a large portion of those funds are being abused every single licensee that I have talked to that I have talked with and told them a portion of their fee sent to the Department of professional financial regulation are not being used for their intended purposes but has become a slush fund for politicians in Augusta to dip into and to pay for offset or offset funding for their pet projects in the last two years alone the Department of professional financial regulation account as nearly as nearly had two million dollar - I'm sorry twenty million dollars hard for me to say 20 million dollars 20 million dollars has been raided by politicians in Augusta you can just imagine the outrage from hard-working Mainers when they find out about this abuse these are just a few of the things that have compelled me to be here today and I want to thank you for listening and I look forward to working with everyone and anyone to bring common-sense reforms to Maine's occupational licensing and with that I had the privilege to introduce my friend senator Brady who has spent a good amount of time in the guest star working on some of these reforms and I look forward for more good ideas to come thank you Thank You representative well thank you thank you everyone for being here today and thank you for those who are watching on video as well my name is Eric breaky I'm a two-term state senator and I'm proud to represent the people of the communities of Auburn New Gloucester : mine in mechanic falls and we're here today talking about this report let us work that's what it's about let us work and the government not letting people work at least not without through many arbitrary and an tedious and and problematic challenges in order to be able to to longer their labor to others now in the legislature over the last several years there has been some progress made on occupational licensing I will say this is a this is an issue that is I'm very passionate about because it affects some of the most vulnerable people economically in our state who are simply trying to get ahead but have government barriers artificially putting in front of them preventing their ability to be economically mobile and to climb the ladder and to do better for themselves now of course occupational licensing is put in place for the stated purpose of protecting public safety and with the goal of protecting public safety we knows no surprise certain professions that are licensed we licensed doctors we licensed medical professionals that makes a certain kind of sense if we're talking about public safety if you have someone who doesn't know what they're doing with a medicine think they can do tremendous harm to someone but many many people would be very surprised to find out that we licensed things like interior designers and heaven forbid you if you have an unlicensed interior designer and you end up with a bad shag carpeting in your in your home that that clashes with everything on your walls I mean the horror to make people if that would happen there's there's no legitimate way that it can be claimed that some of these occupational licensing requirements that are in place protect the public safety now we have made some progress as I was saying for some limited progress has been made in the legislature over the last several years and thankfully because this has not always been a partisan issue in fact we made some bipartisan progress you know over the last several years there was a Democrat state senator senator and Haskell from Portland who sponsored legislation to to a limiting occupational licensing for hair breeders so imagine this you know if you wanted to braid people's hair you potentially had to get an ex licensed which could require years of schooling in cosmetology in cosmetology and and oftentimes getting this license and going through all the educational processes they didn't even teach you hair braiding but you had to learn how to do everything else with people's hair in order to be able to break people's hair on bringing people's hair it's completely reversible you praise someone's hair wrong and you know what you can try it again a person's health and safety is not in danger thankfully the legislature saw common sense I was proud to co-sponsor that bill along with Senate Democrat Senator and Haskell and it passed unanimously through the House Senate and and through through the the committee of jurisdiction now just a later I inspired by senator Ann Haskell's work and seeing the problems that occupational licensing creates for so many main people who are trying to get ahead I sponsored my own legislation to take a more comprehensive look at many of the occupational licensing requirements that are in place across the state over a whole host of a whole host of professions and to end simply study it to look at you know a lot of these things have been in place for years and years have never come up for a few and there's been no opportunity to evaluate is this something that is protecting the public interest or is it something that is simply protecting people with licenses from competition and is that working against the public interest even sponsoring that legislation to simply study the issue we saw a whole host of individuals come out folks with established with licenses coming out to rail against this legislation and defeat it which would savvy they they did we couldn't even study the issue because there are so many entrenched interests in place people who are protected from competition and protected from from from those with without the means to be able to satisfy these artifice these arbitrary licensing requirements they were there people protected from that competition so I'm a very I'm very glad to see this report let us work we should all be able to agree that if someone wants to work if someone wants to sell their labor to their fellow Maine citizens their fellow Maine people and in doing so they present no risk to public health or safety they should not be threatened with fines from the government and they should not be threatened with prison time from the government if they do not comply and they do not get this artificial permission slip from the government to be able to work that simply is repugnant to the entire idea of a free society it's repugnant to the idea of free markets and the idea that we own our labor and can sell it to people to any person who's willing to buy it from us it's time for reform it's time to let people work and I am very hopeful we will continue making progress over the coming years and I'm hopeful that this report will be the foundation and the basis for that so thank you very much for having me here today and I'm going to welcome back to the podium Matt Gagne said a quick parting thought before we go ahead and open up for questions if we have any you know we have a position at the Maine marriage Policy Center which I think you've heard well articulated a moment ago by Senator breaky that you have a right to earn a living if you have skills and you can market those skills and people are happy to pay you for them there is nothing that should stand in the way of that so long as you just heard a moment ago it does not threaten the health or safety of your fellow Mainers that is our our and that's what this report is about we're identifying exactly what the landscape looks like here where the challenges are and where we can make a big difference in helping some Mainers work if they want to so the court know that the report is about that and if you have any questions that have any answers up now all right seeing nine we have some availability Terry Brown our communications director is available if you have any questions afterwards you think of any email them or call us at the office we're happy to answer those questions I want to say a quick thank you to everybody who is here with us on the podium telling a little bit of their story because this is a very vitally important issue that affects a lot more Mainers that you think it does and it has a massive economic impact and we don't notice it and we should and that's what this report is about so again thank you so much for being here and I look forward answer your questions in future thanks