MANCHESTER, N.H. – What’s in a license? That was the question on recently as Americans for Prosperity New Hampshire (AFP-NH) gathered at Stark Brewery for a discussion on licensure laws in the Granite State.
Moderator Drew Cline was joined by Legislative Council Jessica Poitras and AFP-NH Regional Director Ross Connolly in the discussion, which began with a look at the history of licenses and segued into analysis of how licenses impact professional life in New Hampshire.
Members of the panel praised New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu for his efforts to reform current licensing laws by seeking to eliminating several licensing and licensing boards within the state.
Cline said that often the reasoning for licensure in New Hampshire has been tenuous, such as the recently repealed license for lightning rod salespeople, or made little sense. One such example came from the fact that foresters need licenses in New Hampshire while carpenters do not.
“You need a license to identify a tree, but you don’t need one to build something with it, this is how thoughtful our legislature is in New Hampshire,” he said.
Poitras said that approximately 20 percent of professions have some form of license related to them and Connolly stated that he believes the primary reason for many licenses is to limit the competition for those already within the field. Cline also noted that when license requirements were dropped for healthcare professionals during the
Poitras and Connolly said that often individuals who cannot obtain licenses simply practice their craft underground in many fields such as cosmetology. Connelly added that unneeded licenses that are removed in certain fields such as hair braiding, it can help open new opportunities, using the example of South Sudanese immigrant Sarah Tor Dak.
“We keep coming back every year and we will not stop trying to fix this problem,” he said. “I see the people affected by this and when you see that barrier removed and how it affects their life, it’s amazing.”
Members of the audience discussed ideas to bring more attention to the issues of licenses such as offering free haircuts in front of the state house, while State Representative Dan McGuire (R-Epsom) stating that 30 pages of uncontroversial licenses that could be removed were placed within HB 2.
McGuire and Cline also advocated for supporting reciprocal licensure agreements with other states, using the example of healthcare professionals that were allowed to practice during the COVID-19 pandemic and the number of physicians in the state doubled.
“There are certain situations such as in medicine where I think most people agree that we need to have some kind of state license, and we can say don’t get rid of the license, but just have reciprocity,” said Cline. “If you have a license in another state, you can come and practice here.”
