WBIW.com News - state

Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana

Indiana Trying Again To Reduce Professional Licensing Requirements

Last updated on Friday, September 19, 2014

(UNDATED) - Indiana is taking another try at winnowing the number of professions whose practitioners must be licensed by a state board.

Legislators established a review committee in 2010 to examine the state's 35 licensing boards and decide which should be eliminated. The panel recommended getting rid of four of the first seven boards it looked at. Instead, Indiana has added three more. Indiana Professional Licensing Agency executive director Nicholas Rhoad says the state has added 10 licensing boards in the last 10 years, and now issues 240 different professional licenses.

Now a revamped committee plans to tackle the whole list over five years, from accountants to veterinarians. Rhoad chairs the seven-member panel, which will recommend whether to eliminate or combine licensing boards, or hand off licensing requirements to private professional organizations.

Rhoad says some licenses might have made sense at the time but don't any more.

Governor Pence has expressed concern that excessive licensing requirements get in the way of creating jobs, and the legislature reflected that viewpoint in the law reconstituting the panel, changing its name to the Job Creation Committee.

The legislature must approve any changes.

1340 AM WBIW welcomes comments and suggestions by calling 812.277.1340 during normal business hours or by email at comments@wbiw.com

© Ad-Venture Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Click here to go back to previous page