Freedom to Work Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3145 To require Executive agency review of occupational licensing requirements, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 12, 2021 Mrs. HARSHBARGER (for herself, Mr. BANKS, Mr. ISSA, Mr. JACKSON, Mr. LAMALFA, Mrs. LESKO, and Mr. BUDD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con- cerned A BILL To require Executive agency review of occupational licensing requirements, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Freedom to Work 4 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:41 Jun 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3145.IH H3145 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3145 IH (1) Occupational licensing has grown exponen- 1 tially, comprising nearly 25 percent of the United 2 States workforce today, up from 5 percent nearly 60 3 years ago. 4 (2) According to a 2018 Bureau of Labor Sta- 5 tistics survey, 84.4 percent of employed people with 6 a certification or license responded that their creden- 7 tial was required for their job. 8 (3) Studies show little evidence that licensing 9 improves quality of services and instead costs con- 10 sumers $203,000,000,000 annually, reduces the 11 number of jobs by 2,850,000, with the most impact 12 on low-income workers seeking to enter occupations 13 for the first time. 14 (4) Occupations experience slower employment 15 growth in States where they are licensed, compared 16 to States where they are not, proving occupational li- 17 censing serves as a barrier to employment. 18 (5) Enacted into Federal law in 2014, the stat- 19 ed purpose of the Workforce Innovation and Oppor- 20 tunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.) is to strengthen 21 the United States workforce development system 22 through innovation in, and alignment and improve- 23 ment of, employment, training, and education pro- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:41 Jun 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3145.IH H3145 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3145 IH grams in the United States, and to promote indi- 1 vidual and national economic growth. 2 (6) In fiscal year 2021, Congress appropriated 3 $2,845,332,000 for States to assist Americans in 4 overcoming barriers to employment and help employ- 5 ers hire and retain workers. 6 (7) If States enact unnecessary occupational li- 7 censing requirements that create barriers for indi- 8 vidual job seekers, when no requirement or a less re- 9 strictive alternative may serve the same purpose, 10 States are acting in contradiction to the goals of 11 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 12 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.). 13 (8) On December 14, 2020, the Executive Of- 14 fice of the President published Executive Order 15 13966, Increasing Economic and Geographic Mobil- 16 ity to establish it as the policy of the United States 17 to alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens on the 18 American people and require the Federal Govern- 19 ment to review and report on authorities, regula- 20 tions, guidance, and policies to alleviate such occupa- 21 tional licensing burdens. 22 (9) Policymakers at all levels of government 23 should require evidence to determine if there is a 24 demonstrated need to regulate an occupation and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:41 Jun 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3145.IH H3145 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3145 IH should consider a range of less restrictive alter- 1 natives such as, quality ratings, voluntary third- 2 party professional certifications, bonding or insur- 3 ance, or inspection requirements. 4 SEC. 3. EXECUTIVE AGENCY REVIEW OF OCCUPATIONAL LI- 5 CENSING REQUIREMENTS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter 31 of title 7 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 8 the following: 9 ‘‘§ 3117. Executive agency review of occupational li- 10 censing requirements 11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 12 date of enactment of the Freedom to Work Act and every 13 2 years thereafter, the head of each Executive agency 14 shall— 15 ‘‘(1) review any authority, regulation, or policy 16 of, or Federal law pertaining to, the Executive agen- 17 cy that— 18 ‘‘(A) imposes an occupational licensing re- 19 quirement with respect to any position (includ- 20 ing any position of a contractor or subcon- 21 tractor thereof) at the Executive agency; or 22 ‘‘(B) is causing a State, local, or tribal 23 government to adopt an occupational licensing 24 requirement for public and private sector posi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:41 Jun 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3145.IH H3145 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3145 IH tions within the State or area encompassing the 1 jurisdiction of the local or tribal government; 2 ‘‘(2) identify any changes to such an authority, 3 regulation, policy, or law that would result in no re- 4 quirement or the least restrictive alternative to an 5 occupation licensing requirement with respect to any 6 such position while maintaining protection for con- 7 sumers and other individuals from significant and 8 demonstrable harm to their health and safety; and 9 ‘‘(3) submit to the Director of the Office of 10 Management and Budget, the Assistant to the Presi- 11 dent for Domestic Policy, and the Assistant to the 12 President and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs 13 a report that identifies such changes. 14 ‘‘(b) REPORT TO PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS.—Not 15 later than 30 days after receiving the report under sub- 16 section (a)(3), the Director of the Office of Management 17 and Budget shall— 18 ‘‘(1) submit to the President and to Congress 19 such report; and 20 ‘‘(2) publish such report in the Federal Reg- 21 ister. 22 ‘‘(c) AGENCY IMPLEMENTATION.—Each Executive 23 agency shall implement any changes (excluding any 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:41 Jun 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3145.IH H3145 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3145 IH change requiring a change in Federal law) described in 1 a report submitted under subsection (b). 2 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 3 ‘‘(1) OCCUPATIONAL LICENSE.—The term ‘oc- 4 cupational license’ means a license, registration, or 5 certification without which an individual lacks the 6 legal permission of a State, local, or tribal govern- 7 ment to perform certain defined services for com- 8 pensation. 9 ‘‘(2) STATE.—The term ‘State’ has the mean- 10 ing given the term in section 9101(a)(4).’’. 11 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 12 for such subchapter is amended by inserting after the item 13 relating to section 3116 the following: 14 ‘‘3117. Executive agency review of occupational licensing requirements.’’. SEC. 4. UNIFIED STATE PLAN. 15 Section 102(b)(1)(D) of the Workforce Innovation 16 and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3112(b)(1)(D)) is 17 amended by adding before the semicolon the following: ‘‘, 18 and of how the State will reduce occupational licensing 19 barriers to entry in specific occupations or industry sectors 20 and any broader occupational licensing process reforms’’. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:41 Jun 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3145.IH H3145 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS