On behalf of our activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and ask him or her to support the New Hope and Opportunity through the Power of Employment (HOPE) Act, H.R. 2155, introduced by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.). The bill would incentivize states to reform occupational licensing laws that limit competition in the marketplace.

Last Tuesday, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah.) and Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) spoke at a Heritage Foundation panel discussion on the damage and ineffectiveness of occupational licensing.

In my continuing crusade against the evils of occupational licensure, allies have been hard to come by. Most people take for granted the idea that licensing laws protect consumer welfare against unqualified professionals, and view any challenge to their legitimacy as some form of dangerous lunacy. This is particularly true in the medical profession. While the absurdity of requiring licenses for hair braiders or interior decorators may be relatively easy to convey, medical practice has such a high potential for danger that arguing for any reduction in regulations strikes people are reckless. In a new working paper from the Mercatus institute, however, Edward Timmons joins the fray, demonstrating that many licensing restrictions on medical providers exist not to protect consumer welfare, but to limit competition among doctors, resulting in higher prices and less choice for consumers.

Professional licensure is a too-often ignored way for government to protect private monopolies, squash, competition, keep prices high, and reduce consumer choice. I’ve written extensively about the issue before, because the practice of licensure can be very harmful to honest citizens seeking to better themselves through gainful employment, and like all government regulations, it hits the poorest and least educated citizens hardest.

FreedomWorks has written previously about how occupational licensure laws hurt the economy, small businesses, and people without the means to get a government issued license. However, occupational licensure is also a justice reform issue.

Minnesota experienced a win for liberty recently when the state reformed regulations on in-home food businesses. According to the Institute for Justice, almost every state has regulations, called cottage food laws, that limit the sale of food out of the home. However, until last month Minnesota was one of the strictest states, allowing many bakers to sell their products only at farmers’ markets and events, and capping the amount they could earn annually to $5,000.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld a restriction that limits the use of teeth-whitening LED lights to licensed dentists. Not only does this requirement make no sense, the court reached some extreme conclusions in their decision.

Much of the Bill of Rights is dedicated to protecting accused persons, an action integral to our society. Expanding upon the Sixth Amendment’s granted right to legal counsel, states have put legislation in place that strictly dictates who can practice law. While such regulations aim to protect citizens, they have adverse effects and actually abridge the freedoms we hold dear.