The Oklahoma Department of Labor under Commissioner Melissa Houston’s leadership, is working on making Oklahoma’s occupational licensing programs user friendly and more efficient. For those efforts, the U.S. Department of Labor has awarded a grant so the newly formed Occupational Licensing Advisory Commission could continue working on developing more efficient licensing programs.
Governor Fallin created the Occupational Licensing Task Force, chaired by Houston, which examined the issues and began working with the state’s licensing agencies to provide a road map to organizing and aggregating the information in an easier to access format. The Legislature created the Occupational Licensing Advisory Commission this year to implement the Task Force’s recommendations. The Commission will be the nexus for occupational licensing information in Oklahoma. It also has the duty to review every four years the occupational licenses the state issues to keep regulations from becoming excessive or overly burdensome.
“Oklahoma is positioned to be a leader in occupational licensing reform, striking a balance between preserving economic liberty, protecting public safety, and ensuring that government is not unnecessarily getting in the way of people earning a living for their family,” said Houston. “We are excited to begin the work of the Commission and appreciate the U.S. Department of Labor for recognizing Oklahoma’s leadership on this issue.”
The Occupational Licensing Advisory Commission will begin its work of reviewing individual occupational licenses this month.
