The BOLSTER Act

R E VA LUATING T HE COST OF DOI N G BU S I N ESS

DA N ZLOJUT RO
Occupational Licensing
• Occupational Licenses are a method by which the job market is regulated.
• They often require a varying mixture of fees for admission, examinations, testing, audits, and time commitments.

• In the United States, over 800 different professions require approval from a regulatory body to
practice.

• Occupational licensure is believed to protect consumers and ensure that the best people are
doing the jobs that keep our communities working.
• This sounds great, so why reform it?

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Licensure Has Gone Too Far
• Over 20% of Michigan residents require a license to do their job.
• This covers higher-end professional occupations like lawyers, doctors, and accountants.
• Middle-class occupations like barbers, cosmetologists, florists, real-estate brokers, and athletic trainers.
• Almost every skilled trade imaginable.
• And we even get some odd ones: Hearing aid dealers, martial-arts timekeepers, and polygraph examiners.

• These licenses have major implications on Michigan’s economy.

• Prices increase, sometimes up to 30%.
• Unemployment increases
• Prison recidivism increases
• Regulatory capture
• Residents exit Michigan and potential residents don’t replace them.

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Solutions Presented
• The BOLSTER Act is a Michigan legislative measure which seeks to establish structured and
yearly review process where regulations preventing Michigan workers from making a living
are revisited, analyzed, and adjusted.

• This review process targets:

• The burden of a regulation
• An adequate level of regulation to better foster economic
growth in Michigan
• The interplay between market and regulatory failures.
• Revision, repeal, or remedy discretion.

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Language
• The Burdensome Occupational Licensure Statute Termination Act is an act to review, revise, or
repeal burdensome, unreasonable, or collusive licensing requirements and boards throughout
the state of Michigan to help bolster the work force, enhance economic choice, and establish
Michigan as a premier place to live and work.

• Various mechanisms:
• Amend the Legislative Council Act of 1986 (MCLS § 4.1101)
• Establish procedures in the Michigan Legislative Council to review newly passed occupational licensing legislation
after January 1st, 2020.
• Review 10% of licensed occupations and their related mandates yearly, and 100% by the end of a ten-year period.
• Review occupational licensing according to a rebuttable presumption that either market competition or private
remedies in tort and criminal law are adequate to protect consumers.
• If the reviewed occupation fails the test, the Michigan Legislative Council is to draft a report for the legislature and
recommend the Legislature to either tailor the occupational licensure regime to be least burdensome to economic
growth and access to quality professions or repeal the licensure regime in total.

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Analysis Targets and Tailoring
A. Evaluate likelihood of fraud and strengthen consumer protection.
B. Sanitary practices achievable through routine inspection to promote heath and safety.
C. Damages in trade preventable by legal remedy or insurance coverage.
D. Likelihood that regulation results in black-market goods and services.
E. Burden on individuals seeking to practice including hour requirements, monetary costs, and
examination pertinence.
F. Market information asymmetries between buyer and seller.
G. Public access to practice area information and potential harms.
H. Whether a medical service is provided for which compensation is earned or reimbursed by
insurance or state program.

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Scope and Burden
• The Sliding Scale: Least to Most Burdensome
1. Market Competition – No regulation in the field, and equal access to practice for compensation.
2. Government Certification – Voluntary state or private program granting non-transferable certificate of
quality in practice. Not required as a pre-requisite for legal practice for compensation.
3. Inspection – Private or Public inspection or audit to measure safety, competence, compliance with applicable
law, and quality of practice.
4. Private Remedies – Tort and Criminal Law action for malfeasance or culpability.
5. Insurance – Mandated insurance in practice field.
6. Registration - Mandatory notice to the appropriate state authority of practice.
7. Medical Licensure – Non-transferable legal authorization to practice for payment or reimbursement for the
provision of medical services based on qualifications established by the legislature.
8. Occupational Licensure – Formal non-transferrable State authorization to work in a field for compensation
when legal obligations are satisfied and prohibition of unauthorized practice.

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Policy Champions
• Senator Arik Nesbitt (R):
• Senator Nesbitt is the Chair of the Michigan Senate Regulatory Reform Committee
• He is deeply invested in deregulatory efforts. Nesbitt currently serves as Senate President Pro
Tempore and chairs the Senate Committee on Regulatory Reform and the Licensing and
Regulatory Affairs Appropriations subcommittee.
• He is the Senator for the 26th District which is home to over a quarter-million people.
• He is rather young, at 39 years-old.

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Policy Champions
• Senator Lana Theis (R):
• Senator Theis is the Vice Republican Chair of Senate Reg Reform Committee. She also chairs the
Senate Insurance and Banking Committee and Senate Education Committee. Senator Theis serves
as a member of the Economic and Small Business Development, Health Policy and Human
Services, Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, and Oversight committees.

• She is the Senator representing Michigan’s 22nd District which encompasses a portion of Ann
Arbor and other south-western Detroit suburbs. Her district contains a just below 300,000
constituents.

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Policy Champions
• Representative Michael Webber (R):
• Rep. Webber serves as the Representative of the 45th
House District and is the Chair of the House
Regulatory Reform Committee.
• The 45th District contains western Detroit suburbs and
is home to nearly 100,000 constituents.
• Representative Brandt Iden (R):
• Rep. Iden serves as the 61st Districts Representative.
He is the Chair of the House Ways and Means
Committee and has taken measures on Occupational
Licensing in the past. His district houses Kalamazoo,
Michigan.
• He previously was a chair of the Reg Reform
Committee in the House.
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Policy Champions
• Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D):
• Governor Whitmer is early in her first term in office as Governor. Governor
Whitmer has command of how agencies operate in the State of Michigan which is
a powerful relationship for licensing reform.
• She is currently interested in occupational licensure reform as it applies to the
incarcerated. The particular occupations Gov. Whitmer is targeting in this effort
include cosmetology, building trades, plumbing, electrical, masonry and barbers,
among others.
• She is rather young, at 48, and is from Lansing, Michigan, the state capitol.
• Before becoming Governor, she served in the Michigan House and Senate for a
combined 14 years in addition to her service as Ingham County Prosecutor.
Ingham County is home to Michigan State University, Lansing, and 300,000
people.

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Stake Holders: Supporting
•Mackinac Institute for Public Policy •Michigan Chamber of Commerce
◦ A policy shop and think tank in line with deregulation
and reform efforts. •Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce

•State Policy Network •West Michigan Policy Forum

◦ A right leaning national effort focusing on state level
advocacy and legislative efforts.
•Michigan Freedom Foundation

•Americans for Prosperity: Michigan •National Federation of Independent Business –

Michigan
◦ AFP is an arm of Koch Industries focusing on state
policy initiatives. Economic liberties and growth are one
of their principles.

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Stake Holders: Opposing
•Boards of Licensed Occupations
◦ The various boards of licensed occupations will oppose the BOLSTER Act as it will
encroach on their monopoly control over their industries and freedom from
competition.
◦ If passed, the BOLSTER Act allows for the legislature to revoke licensed
professions’ abilities to restrict practice, bring legal actions, and engage in price
hikes.
◦ Regardless of passage, the various boards will all still maintain their profession.
◦ Pursuant to the BOLSTER Act, the legislature simply dictates the least
burdensome manner in which to effectively administer services, which in some
contexts, may be no board at all.
◦ This results in lower prices, more jobs, fewer costs, and a better Michigan.

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Stake Holders: The Boards
•Examples of some of Michigan’s sixty boards:
• Barbers • Tax Assessors
• Cosmetologists • Auto Mechanics
• Manicurists • Librarian
• Masseuses • Nutritionists
• Florists • Certified Public Accountants
• Landscapers • Psychiatrists
• Lawyers • Hair braiders
• Carpenters • Architects
• Insurance adjusters • Chauffers
• Taxi drivers • Plumbers
• Real Estate Brokers • Etc.

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Marketing
• Clear Messaging
• Emphasis on lower costs, more jobs, and personal choice

• Helping underserved communities

• Access to real jobs and careers on their terms
• Criminal Justice direction
• Low income households.

• Social Media
• Testimonials from constituents and stake holders
• Show grassroots support

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Social Media - Examples

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Sources
1. The Mackinac Institute
2. The Michigan House of Representatives
3. Michigan Senate
4. Mercatus Center
5. Mississippi Center for Public Policy

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