PRESS CONFERENCE: Occupational Licensing Reciprocity Reform

Last week Rep. George Lang (R) and Rep. Jena Powell (R) had the pleasure of unveiling legislation to allow reciprocity in Ohio for out-of-state license holders. 

This year, Arizona became the first state to broadly recognize out-of-state licenses. Ohio can become the second state in the nation to do so with this legislation.

Part of solving the workforce shortage in Ohio is helping people enter the workforce faster, and encouraging people who already hold licenses in other states to want to move to and/or work in Ohio.

After the lengthy process and the financial investment that people have already gone through in another state to receive their license, they don’t want to have to add to that an extensive wait in Ohio. Current law discourages qualified individuals from moving to our state, filling needed jobs, and investing in our communities. 

We know that Ohio is an incredible place to live. We want people to be able to move here and invest in our communities. One of the barriers to this happening is the fact that Ohio currently does not recognize out-of-state licenses.  If we recognize out-of-state licenses, we will send a bold message to the rest of the country that Ohio is open for business. Come and practice your trade in our communities.

We can be on the leading edge and solving the workforce shortage in our state by passing this critical legislation.

To read more check the Dayton Daily News article here.