When you see an injustice, what do you do about it? If you said nothing, would you at least morally support those who to decided to speak up against the injustice? Let's assume you agree...
Next, do you support state licensing of various professions? Cosmetology? Engineering? Contractors? It's all in the interest of public protection, right? These are supposed to be responsible for people's lives or money, and they should know what they're doing, so the government is supposed to license them to 1) make sure they meet requirements, like went to a certain school, and b) pay a licensing fee for the cost of this licensing program. If it operates as intended, then there is no problem.
But when it is used indiscriminately against the citizens then there is a problem.
Let me introduce you to two heroes who decided to speak up against such injustices.
Mats Jarlstrom's wife got a red-light ticket while making a right turn in 2013. He investigated the signal and found that the yellow light interval can be shortened in order to elevate maximum revenue, not safety. And he has found that most jurisdictions set the yellow light interval too short and does not account for right-hand turn traffic, but only for straight-through vehicles (who can come to a stop or speed through). He started to advocate his findings by going to interviews with news stations, talking to traffic engineers, and even presented his research at a national conference of the Institute of Transportation Engineers.
Then "Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying" fined him $500 for "practicing engineering without a license". No, I am NOT making this up. In fact, the board wanted Mats to stop calling himself an engineer (he has a degree in electrical engineering, but he's not a licensed engineer in Oregon). And continued offense could be fined up to several thousand dollars and one year in jail, if he continued to "critique" traffic lights.
So Mats sued the board in Federal Court for violating his first amendment rights. And he won in 2018.
In 2020, Journal of the Institute of Transportation Engineers said Jarlstrom was right.
This is a clear case of state licensing gone overboard.
But let's look at another example... something a bit closer to home... hair braiding.
In at least SEVEN states (including Oregon), hair braiders are required to have cosmetology or hairstyling licenses... even though hair braiding was not taught in cosmetology AT ALL. Keep in mind that hair braiding uses NO chemicals, dyes or colors, or other products. It is completely natural, involves no cutting or bleaching.
Yet in multiple states, hair braiders have to obtain either cosmetology or hairstyling licenses. And these operators are forced to learn things they will NEVER use (like bleaching, or nail trimming). Keep in mind that many of these cosmetology courses require THOUSANDS of hours in training and TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS tuition.
In 1997, Isis Brantley was raided by multiple state agents who arrested her for braiding hair without cosmetology license in Texas. So when Texas started licensing Hair Braiding in 2007, it was supposed to be a relief, but it wasn't. The new law was attached to the existing barbering statute. Brantley's hair braiding school, in order to become legal, must be turned into a barber school including size, barber chairs, and sinks, and she must become a licensed barber instructor in order to teach.
No, I am not making this up either.
Fortunately, over a dozen states have separate "specialty licenses" for hair braiders, and some of them have lesser training requirements, if at all. A few hundred hours.
So what happened to Isis Brantley? She sued the state of Texas in Federal Court, and won in 2015. Braiding instructor course was shortened to a 50-hour course (instead of 750-hour barber course) and the laws forcing barber school standards onto hair braiding schools? Unconstitutional. And in 2015, Texas chose to deregulate hair braiding altogether.
And indeed, in 30 states, hair braiders need NO LICENSE at all.
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