Oklahoma improving professional license access: Opinion

The most common defense for widespread licensing requirements is that they are necessary for the health and safety of the public.

But this is rarely true, according to Shoshana Weissman, an occupational licensing policy fellow and social media manager at the R Street Institute, a free-market think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C.

“Lawmakers ought to be trying to find less restrictive methods of regulation that continue to protect the public while increasing the ability of people to work,” she said.