I’m sure my readers are aware of the problem of state licensing that has been proliferating for a long time. As I look at the directory of the building where I have coffee in the morning I see listed attorneys, financial consultants, accountants, acupuncturists, body workers and head hunters. They are all licensed by the State as are the businesses I walk past. The barbers, florists, nail care specialists, pharmacists and morticians.
We have all read the absurdities about one state that requires 1,500 hours of training to be a barber and another state that licenses people who do hair braiding.
If you are the spouse of a military service person and you change states regularly, the State requirements for licensing are an onerous burden on you. You get licensed in one state and can’t practice in most others. The same is true for the large number of people who are married and move between states during their lifetime.
This is not American. This is preposterous and unconstitutional.
As I have explained in the previous two blogs, this kind of commercial oppression violates Article I section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution prohibits one state from favoring its inhabitants in commerce and penalizing citizens of other states. The Courts have upheld this interpretation of the commerce clause.
Time to take this case to the Supreme Court. Any trade or commercial license should exist only at the Federal level.
Some specific local issues such as State Law might warrant a State test; but it should be a simple, short, online, and open-book test at most.