Jobs "Under Government Attack"
The Street's Joe Mont highlights a variety of jobs "under government attack" via pointless regulations and unnecessary occupational licensing requirements. Among the offenders:
Texas requires computer repair technicians to get a private investigator's license, which could require a degree in criminal justice or three-year apprenticeship. Uncredentialed IT guys could face a $4,000 fine, one year in jail or a $10,000 civil penalty. Consumers who knowingly take their computers to unlicensed companies are subject to the same punishment. Since 2007, anyone in Texas who accesses nonpublic computer files to gather information is deemed by the state to have conducted an "investigation"—thus the requirement….
[Louisiana] requires florists to pass a written exam to ply their trade. Until recently, earning the right to work as a florist in that state also required passing a four-hour, hands-on review in which four arrangements had to be created and judged competent by a panel of state-licensed florists.
A statement by the Institute for Justice described a partial victory against the practice in July as: "licensing scheme pruned back after florists file civil rights lawsuit." The group praised a bill signed into law by Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, saying, "Louisiana florists will no longer find themselves fenced out of the industry by an arbitrary, subjective and antiquated licensing exam in which their own future competitors decide whether they are 'good enough' to sell floral arrangements."
Read the whole story here. For more on occupational licensing abuse, check out Reason.tv's "Throw-Pillow Fight: Is your interior designer really putting your life at risk?"