Please allow our nations licensed professionals to freely work in any state.
Dear Mr President
Please execute an executive order to allow our nation’s state licensed professionals to practice their professions in every state.
This is a simple idea that you could implement with zero costs, by nothing more than the stroke of your pen, that will immediately increase personal and economic freedom for millions and millions of our most talented, hard working and most educated , most dedicated and most intelligent taxpayers, will increase our national disaster preparedness, will give an immediate boost (POP!) to our economy by increasing economic mobility, and save America taxpayers billions of dollars while slashing the budgets of 50 completely redundant state licensing agencies.
Simply write and sign an executive order to allow our nation”s state licensed professionals to practice their professions in every state.
Imagine the chaos there would be if state issued drivers licenses were suddenly only valid in the state of issue. You would need to plan carefully, for months or years in advance to take a simple cross country road trip with your family. Shipping would be delayed and the costs of shipping would skyrocket. First responders wouldn’t be able to cross state lines in an emergency or a national disaster without getting the proper license or state issued exceptions.
This is exactly the current situation facing our nations licensed professionals. Consider a board certified Neurosurgeon licensed to practice medicine in New York with more than 5 years or experience and nearly 30 years of the highest level of education, certified as an expert by the American Board of Neurologic Surgery, a difficult, rigorous, expensive certification, and a clean record of no malpractice claims who is paying the NY state licensing board $800 per year for his state issued medical license. If he one day wants to move his family to California, he cannot simply pack up and move. He will need to plan for 2 or more years in advance and spend thousands, probably tens of thousands of dollars, before he can move, and yet there is not a single thing that is different about the practice of neurosurgery in New York or California, or anywhere else in the world.
Due to wasteful, unnecessary government bureaucracy, applications for licenses to the California Medical Board take more than one year to complete.
Applicants more than 5 years out of their residency training are also required to take a state issued test in general medicine
Neurosurgeons don’t practice general medicine, and medicine advances rapidly, so in order for him to pass the state general medicine test, a test only offered a few times per year, the surgeon will first need to take a review course costing thousands of dollars, that the state also administers and profits from.
State licensing boards, particularly those in the most populous blue states have gone completely crazy w costly and unnecessary over-regulation. Professionals licensed in one state should be allowed to work anywhere in the United States.
Named the Portability of Professions Act or POP Act, I have been trying to draw attention to the simplicity and beauty and cost savings of this idea, of simply allowing licensed professionals to work in any state, for several years, but not a single lawmaker I have contacted has the courage to act.
Mitt Romney, the relative of a colleague, wrote: “Realistic idea but it won’t fly—big resistance to big-footing state powers. States can voluntarily agree to recognize the credentials of other states, of course, but having the federal government tell them all what to do would cause huge heartburn—politically at least.”
Mr President, this is a simple and logical and realistic and necessary idea. Please enact the POP Act by executive action.
Physicians, veterinarians dentists, pulmonary technicians, laboratory technicians and every other health care professional, contractors, engineers, plumbers, electricians and every other professional in the construction industry, fiduciaries, accountants and other financial services advisors, barbers, cosmetologists, nail stylists and every other licensed worker in the beauty industry, funeral home directors, optometrists, hearing aid dispensers, pharmacists, family counselors and a long list of other hard working, tax paying professionals will be eternally grateful, and you’ll virtually eliminate most of the 50 redundant and costly state licensing boards by slashing their annual budgets of annual licensing fees.
There will be an immediate boost to our economy with an immediate increase in economic mobility, an immediate increase to our national disaster preparedness, immediate cost savings due to reduced licensing fees (many professionals maintain licenses in multiple states) and future cost savings due to increased competition for professional services. And absolutely zero costs.
The time has come to put common sense back into government and allow state licensed professionals to move and work freely in every state.
It’s time for the federal government to prioritize America citizens’ hard earned individual rights and individual freedoms above the “rights” of states to over-regulate and over-tax. It’s time to cut government waste and show the political courage to “big foot” those mostly blue states on this issue. The affected states won’t be happy, but the American taxpayers will be happy, and all Americans will benefit in countless ways.
Please enact the Portability of Professions Act by executive action today.
Sincerely
Robert Pendleton MD, PhD