As in previous legislative sessions, Gov. Ron DeSantis and state lawmakers used the 2024 session to enact pro-growth policies that will reduce the cost of state government and make Florida an even more attractive place to live, work and raise a family. Take the recent enactment of Senate Bill 1600, a reform that will make it easier for licensed professionals, something that Florida needs many more of across a host of fields, to get to work more quickly upon relocating to the Sunshine State.
With the enactment of SB 1600, legislation introduced by Sen. Jay Collins, R-Tampa, and signed into law by DeSantis on June 28, Florida becomes the 21st state to recognize out-of-state occupational licenses. This reform, commonly referred to as universal license recognition, has earned bipartisan support and been enacted in both red and blue states over the past five years. With the nation’s fastest-growing population, however, Florida needs universal license recognition more than any other state.
Occupational licensing reform and the need for it is something DeSantis referenced when he was running for office. Skylar Zander, Florida director at Americans for Prosperity, noted in a recent opinion piece that on the campaign trail DeSantis would explain to voters how “it was currently easier to become a paratrooper in the military than it was to become a cosmetologist.”
In Arizona, the state where universal license recognition was first enacted by then-Gov. Doug Ducey in 2019, the benefits of universal licensure are already evident, with more than 10,000 people approved to work under it over the past five years. “Workers in a wide range of professions have benefitted from the new reform,” said Heather Curry, director of strategic engagement at the Goldwater Institute, the Arizona-based think tank that helped draft the initial law.
“Nearly 500 physicians and 200 physician assistants have been safely licensed by the Arizona Medical Board,” Curry noted. “The state’s Registrar of Contractors has approved over 2,900 licenses for numerous occupations in the trades. Thousands of additional workers have benefitted from universal recognition, including hundreds of behavioral health examiners and numerous engineers, cosmetologists, and real estate agents and brokers, among many others.”
In easing regulatory barriers to employment in a way that will make it easier for new residents to get to work, the benefits of SB 1600′s passage will benefit more than the doctors, nurses, physician assistants, dentists, dental hygienists and other licensed professionals who will now be able to get to work in Florida more quickly. Universal license recognition is also helpful to the millions of people who already live in Florida, both longtime residents and recent transplants, who will benefit from an increased supply of health care professionals.
SB 1600 will help rectify the shortage of care providers afflicting too many parts of the state. Consider the 5.5 million Floridians now living in places that have been designated as Dental Health Professional Shortage Areas by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Enactment of SB 1600 will help address shortages of such crucial care providers.
With the passage of SB 1600, Florida lawmakers have built upon the licensing reform enacted four years ago, when DeSantis signed the Occupational Freedom and Opportunity Act. That reform, as Zander noted in his opinion piece, “removed barriers of entry to certain professions licensed by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.” Zander added that enactment of SB 1600 “will do even more to get people to work and reform our occupational licensing system, so we can continue to flourish here in the Sunshine State.”
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Explore all your optionsWith the enactment of SB 1600, Florida becomes the latest state to reduce barriers to employment with universal licensure. Expect more states to follow suit in 2025 and beyond. Nearly half of the country now has similar laws in place and, at the current pace, a majority of states will have universal license recognition by the end of this decade. Approval of SB 1600 in Florida further solidifies universal license recognition — along with expansion of school choice and the nationwide movement toward flatter state income tax rates — as one of the top state policy trends of the past decade.
Grover Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization founded in 1985 at the request of President Ronald Reagan
