Business license restrictions are eased, but at what cost?
Lauren Donald, owner of Bond Street Salon in Delray Beach, tends to client Brad Johnson. She is concerned about a new law that makes it easier for people to get some business licenses.
It just got a lot easier to work in many professions in Florida, from accountants to architects, barbers to boxing announcers, inspectors to interior designers,
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Thursday that reduces or eliminates licensing requirements and fees for dozens of professions regulated by the state.
State leaders say the move will reduce red tape and unemployment for workers. But some industry experts are skeptical. They say the new rules could lower quality and safety.
The Occupational Freedom and Opportunity Act allows workers in some professions to easily transfer their out-of-state licenses to Florida and cuts down on the training required to receive or renew a license.
Some jobs will no longer require licenses at all, including interior designers, labor representatives, boxing announcers and timekeepers, hair braiders, hair wrappers, body wrappers, nail polishers and painters and makeup applicators.
The changes will save state workers about $1.3 million in license fees, officials said. They said the changes will help Florida improve from being the fourthmost stringent state for licensing requirements, according to a recent study by the Institute for Justice, a conservative legal organization based in Arlington, Va.
“Florida is now taking bold steps to reduce the regulatory burdens facing hardworking Floridians,” said Halsey Beshears, secretary for the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
DeSantis said the law “will save thousands of Floridians both time and money for years to come.”
‘Devaluing our industry’
But not everyone is celebrating. Lauren Donald, the owner of Bond Street Salon in Delray Beach, is concerned that some salon jobs no longer require licenses and that cosmetologists will now need only 10 hours of training every two years, down from 16, to renew their licenses.
“It raises concerns [about] the quality of work that’s going to be produced by people who now have to have a lesser amount of hours,” she said. “And with some people not being required to have licenses, it’s sort of devaluing our industry.”
An easing of requirements for some in the construction fields, including architects and building inspectors, troubles Becky Blackwood, a retired building supervisor for the Broward School
School District. The new rules reduce the amount of experience needed to be a building code inspector or plans examiner from four years to three. And an inspection license can be easily transferred without having to pass a Florida exam.
“You can come from another state that doesn’t have hurricanes, and that’s where you’re going to have problems,” Blackwood said. “A lot of states are not as stringent as we are. But we need to be stringent. We’re the third-most populous state, we have a large elderly population and we have hurricanes.”
The new rules don’t change Florida’s strict building codes, which were strengthened after Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
State leaders downplay the notion that consumers will be less
protected with fewer regulations.
“Researchers have found little evidence consumers are safer in states with more licensing,” State Rep. Blaise Ingoglia, RSpring Hill, who sponsored the bill, told the State Legislature in January.
A 2015 report by the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers and the Labor and Treasury departments gave a mixed review.
“When designed and implemented carefully, licensing can benefit consumers through higher quality services and improved health and safety standards,” the report found, also noting that current licensure rules impose burdens on workers, employers and consumers and “too often are inconsistent, inefficient, and arbitrary.”
What the law allows
Here are some other provisions of the new law:
Landscape architects will not be required to take a Florida exam if they have an out-of-state license. Electrical and alarm system contractors can get licenses without an exam if they have been licensed in another state for at least 10 years.
A second license is no longer required for architects, geologists and landscape architects who already hold an individual license.
Yacht and shipbrokers will have to maintain only one license tied to their principal place of business and will no longer need additional licenses for each branch office.
Continuing education is no longer required for certified public accountants.
The required number of training hours for barbers is decreasing from 1200 to 900. The 900 hours must be in sanitation, safety, and laws and rules. Program certification requirements are reduced from 1,000 to 600 hours.*
The required hours for a nail specialist have fallen from 240 to 180 hours, facial specialists 260 to 220 hours and full specialists 500 to 400 hours.
The required continuing education to renew an alarm system contractor license has dropped from 14 to 11 hours.
All licensure requirements for interior designers have been removed, although they can seek an optional certification.
Cosmetologists or specialists performing services in connection with a special event will no longer be required to be employed by a licensed salon or be required to make an appointment for a special event through a licensed salon.
Properly licensed individuals can offer hair shampooing, hair cutting, hair arranging, nail polish removal, nail filing, nail buffing and nail cleansing services outside of a licensed salon.