Andrew Heaton Reveals the Most Insane Occupational Licensing Laws in California

This episode delves into the rather insane and nonsensical occupational licensing requirements in California. For instance, it takes 160 hours of training in California to become an EMT, but tens times that (1600 hours) to become a cosmetologist. There are many more examples of this. And it wasn't always this way. Occupational licensing is on the rise in California and elsewhere. Unfortunately, the rationale these industries give is to make us "safer," but their effect is to squeeze out lower income people from good jobs, and many economists think that's exactly the point: to artificially constrict competition among those already well established in an industry.
About Pacific Legal Foundation:
Pacific Legal Foundation is a nonprofit legal organization that defends Americans’ liberties when threatened by government overreach and abuse. We sue the government when it violates Americans’ constitutional rights-and win!
Website: pacificlegal.org
Facebook: Facebook.com/PacificLegalFoundation
Twitter: @PacificLegal
About Andrew Heaton:
Andrew Heaton is a comedian, author, and political satirist. He’s the host of "The Political Orphanage" comedy and news podcast, and scifi deep dive podcast "Alienating the Audience." He’s a frequent Reason TV contributor and hosted the popular webseries “Mostly Weekly.” He’s performed standup comedy at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, as a finalist in the China International Standup Competition, and throughout the United States and Europe. A former congressional staffer, he’s the best-selling author of "Laughter is Better Than Communism," as well as two funny novels.
Follow him on Twitter @MightyHeaton
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[@theironmanx428]

I'll subscribe if you provide more Heaton

[@johnhenryweber665]

I have but only one upvote to give lol

[@judahwatson1011]

THE TRUTH

[@sonichu2electricboogaloo11]

This

[@MrFrenchiead]

Agreed

[@spencer1980]

The other thing that pisses me off is, why am I not allowed to do the job if I pass the test but didn't take the classes? What is the purpose of the test, if I can pass it, but that still isn't good enough?

[@frankkoller2622]

it's all about getting your 💵💵💵

[@charlescook6195]

And... because someone can pass a license test doesn’t mean they can build anything. Only that they can read a book.

[@frankkoller2622]

Or pay someone off, or take a bribe.

[@MG-je5xq]

You guys are seriously turning me into a Libertarian

[@Khorne_of_the_Hill]

It's kind of unavoidable for anyone remotely open minded lol

[@identifiesas65.wheresmyche95]

How do these videos not have more views? I'm shocked! I guess this goes to show we're not only disregarding the constitution and the freedom it's meant to protect, we're not even interested in freedom, we just want free stuff.

[@jimbo9305]

If you mess up as a mortician, bodily fluids may shoot out of the corpse. Jokes aside, licensing wouldn't be such a racket if it was based on testing instead of a licensing board. There are still too many jobs that require licenses, but if it's based on a test instead of work hours then at least it's less of a burden and less likely to be the existing market gatekeeping future competitors. Demonstration of hairdressing skill matters more for the occupation than having 1500 hours of work experience.

[@SpartacusColo]

If I get shot in California, someone please call me a door repair guy.

[@traviswall1982]

Andrew Heaton > John Oliver.

[@donaldcake1]

A flaming bag of dog doo > John Oliver

[@chrismiller5198]

@@donaldcake1 But John did do an admirable job ripping into civil asset forfeiture.

[@bluestar4579]

I'm dying of cancer. California: You got a license for that?

[@dogguy8603]

Dont give them ideas

[@chadparsons9954]

Rocket surgeon is actually called ordnance artificer and yes, you have to be licensed by and register with the Department of Labor.

[@acctsys]

Lots of diseases can come from a corpse. But yes, I agree that occupational licensing should only be for work that cause significant risk to life, and the scope of testing should be laser focused on relevant skills. Moreover, for me, it should not be a problem that someone is not licensed as long as they don't identify as professionals and the job cannot be reasonably expected to result to harm to third parties when it goes wrong.

[@ChristopherNFP]

Exactly what i was thinking. I see men leave public toilets without washing their hands. I guess some of those and more would not wash their hands after touching the inside of a dead body.

[@jed-henrywitkowski6470]

They also deal with HazMat, biological and chemical.

[@Reality_TV]

Occupational licenses are in place to prevent just anyone from saying they know something without thorough testing and they are important. Accountants, engineers, plumbers, hair stylists, physicians, architects, and more can all do disastrous things if they lack the proper knowledge and experience. Occupational licenses help ensure that the person who designed your house didn't just wake up one day, watch a KZbin video and decide they could design your house in a high earthquake zone based on 15 minutes of a KZbin video! Without that type of regulation, we would be facing a lot of so-called "experts" and a whole lot of harm!

[@jobis2414]

Remember all the bodies they found in the nursing home ?

[@karenk3593]

It's also the training schools that are profiting. One industry that really needs more requirements and oversight is professional fiduciaries. They can be appointed by a court, for instance in a probate of a very large estate, with nearly zero training that has to do with the ability to manage money at all. Frightening. I think your solutions at the end of the video are brilliant.

[@seanbrennan5469]

I live in Louisiana where ya need certification for florist but not for electrician and the result lots of fires and no flower street vendors

[@R.c.475]

As a funeral director, I try my best to not make zombies.

[@JonathanRossRogers]

Should waiters on horseback be licensed? I'm not sure how many injuries have been sustained in horse-themed restaurants.

[@HVACSoldier]

Don’t give California Democrats any ideas.

[@theTeslaFalcon]

Slight pushback: Industry self-regulation is important because of inside understandings of how things work that can be treated as more or less serious than it is by outside people who don't understand, but the risks of eliminating competition is also high. As a truck driver, I see this all the time. Non-trucking regulators try to regulate "Hours of Service" as though people are machines which can go to sleep or wake up on schedule whenever as needed. 2 hrs in the sleeper = 2 hrs of sleep. That doesn't work. On one job, when I was legal to drive wasn't safe, but when I was safe to drive wasn't legal. I always did what was safe, even if it wasn't always legal. Thus the way around this is by having 2 phases of the board: 1) We are already segragating the profession by skill & experience so we officially divide it into 3 parts: retired, active, & seeking. 2) Retired oversee the industry they used to be a part of but have no active business now. 3) Active professionals analyze and consider those NOT in their area of business. LA morticians approve SF and vice versa. 4) Those seeking to enter could get guidance & training through the overseers before their test.

[@pragmat1k]

Electricians and Plumbers I think should have to have licenses as well. Electricians can burn your house down, plumbers can cause a lot of water damage.

[@sanniepstein4835]

Having a qualified inspector check the work would do.

[@MLGCaptainVirgil]

0:42 "I am for licensing jobs that would result in body fluid shooting out of you if you screwed up." So, like a gigolo?

[@frankkoller2622]

🤣🤣🤣

[@srmhetmketmk]

The chief rocket designer at SpaceX has no engineering qualifications. How has that been going for them?

[@BillLaBrie]

The architect of LA’s water system had none, either. How is that going for them?

[@calfencer]

Engineers are self regulated with professional exams. Look for "PE" after the name of a person calling themselves an engineer. It's like taking the BAR exam for a law school graduate I'm told.

[@partimentoguitar]

I’m an arborist in Alberta Canada. Here, we just have a private certification issued from the ISA. It helps gain trust to have it, but it’s not required by law. I don’t have the hours to get my ISA certification yet, but we run a small company. I feel somewhat torn on it though, because it allowed us to jump into the market (and we do a really good job - no hacking), but the industry is so dangerous (sorry about your living room and walls) and things such as topping can create risky structures (decayed trees that are much more prone to failure), that I feel like we probably should have occupational licensing for it. That said, I probably wouldn’t be doing it now if we did.

[@larryboles629]

Over reaching State Government intrusion? OH Hell yes! Keep those who are down, down, or look for revenue streams where ever you can find them? It seems easier in Califronia and other states to get a hit of government paid for methadone then a hit of common sense. I am a fan Andrew! Be happy, be safe

[@christopheromeara1442]

EMT is a high school level class. It really should be more training. Paramedics largely respond to the majority of 911 Emergencies.

[@Reality_TV]

Wrong! EMTs have to take a training course AND pass an exam - the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians exam. Each state regulates their EMT course work, but you must pass that exam no matter what state you get your training in! You also have to hold a current certification in CPR, which is super easy, but that is one additional thing.

[@christopheromeara1442]

@@Reality_TV I’m well aware, I did it then went on to become a paramedic. EMT classes, exams, and CPR are all high school level.

[@JonMaxwell]

Gotta give credit to California for showing everyone else what not to do. They're taking the hit so we don't have to. Take notes!

[@Gamenetreviews]

Why this not on Reason? You could have video have 500k views and say “sponsored by the pacific legal foundation” win win.

[@bracholi]

It is impossible that the government could provide a licensing requirement that isn't corrupt, inefficient, and more dangerous than private certifying agencies. The incentive structure will always be towards cartelization. No series of laws can prevent this without themselves just creating cartelization. Public licensing will always create this paradox. In nature there are no guarantees that a person you've entrusted to opening your chest and repairing your heart kills you. In public licensing there is a guarantee that such a person will be qualified when doing so.

[@loricook6331]

This guy is brilliantly funny

[@db-zc9xv]

Before about 1983 California used to require licensing of Photogrammetrists (aerial surveying) but they ended that because there was no use of them from the general public, they were contracted almost exclusively by Licensed Land Surveyors and Registered Civil Engineers. Same for Instrumentation Engineers. No reason to protect the public at large from someone who contracts to, or works for, oil refineries and chemical plants. They know who to hire. Axing these two professions simply trimmed a bit of useless bureaucracy, and no one started doing sloppy work just because there was no longer a state board. At the same time; California also disallowed Civil Engineers that were registered after 1984 from doing the part of property boundary surveying that involves submitting parcel maps and writing legal descriptions, unless they passed the Land Surveyor's test. That was to stop CEs from doing one thing that they never got much education on and were too often getting sued for. They could still do construction staking, design, topography, mapping, dams, tunneling, buildings under 5 stories and hydrology......

[@HVACSoldier]

What happens in Florida IF a psychic gets it wrong? Can their license be revoked?

[@Saratogan]

What do you mean by “if”?

[@HVACSoldier]

@@Saratogan A psychic is licensed, in Florida. IF they make a wrong prediction, is their license revoked?

[@smokedbrisket3033]

Last time I looked, physicians accidentally cause about 100,000 deaths per year. Doesn't seem like their licensing scheme works very well, either.

[@Eatbutternow]

The scheme works perfectly. It generates a lot of profits.

[@jakeaestrada88]

As an emt in California I can say with certainty that it is stupidly easy to become an emt in California haha like there were people on finals day that still screwed up on getting vitals and they managed to pass lol

[@checkmate058]

I think beurocracy is a universal problem. Right to work doesn't vanish because you couldn't get a occupation license. Right to self defense doesn't go away because you could get a gun license. Right to vote doesn't go away because you could get the proper forms.

[@sarahk2722]

Somebody get this to Caitlin Doughty STAT

[@NG-ly8xx]

Please sir may i work today Or Gotta work, gotta get it done, i cant? Screw you im working Its about control, documentation prosecution and of course money

[@alterego3734]

How does that proposal at the end make sense in light of the true reason for the existence of occupational licensing?

[@caleblee5821]

It's better than nothing and relatively easier to implement. There's also a side effect of opening up competition between states who enjoy getting $486 for practically nothing, encouraging them to make more consumer-friendly licensing processes.

[@ezekielbrockmann114]

Well, that explains the homeless camps.

[@felixcaterson7097]

I am an economics student at NDSU, I wrote a capstone paper on the topic of licensing hairdressers, is there any way I could submit it, I think I have a lot of information that might be really meaningful in this discussion.

[@sergioesamayoa]

My sister in law in NC needs a license for heard dressing. Ridiculous!

[@thebusybastard6166]

When I went for a waxing and was in the process of getting my license as a certified alcohol and drug counselor I found out my waxxer needed more supervised hours for her license than mine. It makes no sense

[@jeffsedam9827]

It is all about the money.

[@StyleshStorm]

I subscribed and liked. I'm a Hawaii citizen currently living in Texas so I'm not associated with anything California but this guy made it funny and interesting.

[@Khorne_of_the_Hill]

Why would you ever need licensing over certificates? It's not like hospitals are going to hire uncertified brain surgeons even if they could lol

[@ChristopherNFP]

Just a comment about double standard in the Libertarian Party and its attitude to government licensing. The party (rightly) opposes occupational licencing . For all the right reasons. You have expressed them: An individual should not have to apply for govt permission to work and should certainly not have to pay a fee to exercise the fundamental human right to work and to sell the value of his own work to another person willing to buy that labor. There is another field of human activity that is of equal importance in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That right is the right to marry a consenting adult. It is morally wrong to force by law two individuals to apply for a government licence before they can get married. If two consenting adults choose to get married that is their business alone. I object to seeking permission of the state to do so . The concept is a relic of feudalism where a serf could not marry without consent from his lord. Similarly the right to marry is of the same importance as the right to breathe and the right to work. You can not imagine paying a licence fee for the right to breathe. Equally you should not pay a licence fee for the right to marry. The Libertarian Party should stand up for abolition of marriage licence fees and marriage licences.

[@calfencer]

Stand-up comics are regulated by the audience: butts in chairs and drinks on the tables.

[@treborretsnom6186]

Chemical burns, basements full of dead bodies...all these things happen at hairdressers, and funeral homes.

[@vojtechpikal183]

This is not feudalism. This is medieval guilds all over again. If city has a guild, you cant practice the craft, unless you are a member of the guild. The guild sets out prices and number of positions available to ensure enough enough work and livable wages for all. And ensures and policies quality of product. It works in "traditional economy", where the market (prices, technologies, outputs, available labour...) does not change much.

[@barnzman1]

Good stuff!!! What Fed laws protect individuals from license agency and quazai nga (without informed consent) which impairs fair market opp., influential cronyism and defy fiduc duty, resulting in economic conversion of my chattel and/or good will to the public and where induced to consumer vs pursue occupation or ones livelihood? It seems to lean to antitrust, etc....Fed personal jurisdiction? U.S. code?

[@marikroyals7111]

To be fair many place have a license of cosmetology(its more than hair but hair and skin, so makeup, nails, waxing, facials, ect.) as a result of the chemicals used and the possibility of transmissions of thing's if tools and surfaces aren't properly cleaned. For one profession hair dye is much stronger than the stuff everyday people can buy off the shelf and can lead to some serious chemical burns if used buy someone improperly. Also who wants lice, athletes foot, wax burns, the loss of nails, or some other type of skin condition because the person didn't properly clean and/or changer their tools and/or product. A license makes sure that these people have taken the proper training and should know what their doing and have some type of insurance and if not that license can be taken away and the person unable to officially operate. Edit: But yeah that time sink is a bit much.

[@CaduceusErin]

You could just have a training requirement. There doesn't need to be licensing for that.

[@pilotgeorge2000]

I miss mostly weekly

[@davetindell4110]

As a libertarian, I agree.. until you brought up the embalmed. Add a amendment to his: "if a fluid shoots out of the body..", "if you handle fluids that are severely damaging to people and are abused for recreational drug abuse.. probably need to be licensed." Otherwise. Yeah, a cosmetologist, or other jobs of the like.. that's just people in the profession trying to protect thier monopoly on thier profession. Which doesn't really scream "freedom". 🤔

[@sladwig4094]

Licensed to invent licenses? You need a license to process that license.

[@jrgilby]

Arizona now loves all out of state licenses. (Lookin at you California)

[@Berelore]

I'd go farther and say there should be no state administered licenses. That's something the market used to solve until the states stepped in.

[@joshuakarr-BibleMan]

12:32 Correction: Psychics are, at worst, demons in visible form, deceiving men into making themselves vulnerable to sin.

[@alexo5190]

Do one on New York

[@Eatbutternow]

Everything I’ve ever heard about California makes me wonder why so many people want to live there. It seems like a crap hole. I must be missing something.

[@ronneymoss]

Pilots have certificates as do air traffic controllers

[@12345diehappy]

Even the licensing process for brain surgeons is a joke. It's brain surgeons that write the tests and determine how many brain surgeons can pass it. The state just nods along. If the state stopped the brain surgeon licensing then you'd have to check with your surgeon for his certificate of completion of brain surgeon boards, or choose dr nick. You choose. The only difference would be that it would be "licensed brain surgeon" instead of "state of kalifornia licensed brain surgeon"

[@marcusmoonstein242]

4:09 WTF!!! You need 1500 hours on the clock to become a licensed SHAMPOOER ? Seriously? To shampoo somebodies hair? For context, a B17 ball turret gunner in WW2 had 300 hours specialized training. And a one point about a third of them were killed before completing their tour of duty.

[@erikkovacs3097]

My cousin nearly died from a faulty door repair.

[@ErikBeran]

If only Yelp wasn't so easily gamed and isn't an obvious racketeering scheme. I wish we could trust reviews and input from the public but there are too many ways to sink or prop up a business with lies. Not to mention some people have bat-sh*t insane expectations or put blame on a company or service for something they're not responsible for. Otherwise I like your list! - A Californian

[@ethericbliss23]

Don't you mean; "...DECRIMINALIZE Jobs..." and NOT "...Legalize Jobs..." as you stated at the end??? "Legalizing" STILL implies "laws" and regulations whereas "decriminalizing" strips the "state's authority" over any and all employment opportunities in that given field or "trade". JUST saying... I mean, I TOTALLY agree with what y'all are saying here... and it may SEEM like semantics, yet this being a "Legal" type of forum, one would think that the differentiation between the two is fairly simple and clear. IDK...!?! But like I said; Just sayin'. : ) Cheers!!

[@richdemanowski2575]

Welcome to the People's Republik of Kalifornia

[@reluctantuser6971]

Andrew, are you licensed to be a video host?

[@lkjkhfggd]

Hot take is I think even practicing medicine shouldn't require a license. If you know what you're doing and you're able to convince people to pay you for your services, why not? If you mess up, you'll go bankrupt in no time from a speedy medical malpractice lawsuit. So only the legitimate will stay in business long term.

[@mgevirtz]

You do understand that the dead can carry and transmit disease. You also understand that hiding deqd bodies is useful to certain people guilty of certain crimes, right?

[@jobis2414]

Yeah I’m thinking you’re talking b.s. Many of us have seen or read creepy stories about people getting creepy with corpses. Cosmetologist that don’t clean their gear can cause all kinds of nasty infections.

[@PacificLegalFoundation]

You bet! Glad you watched.

[@thegadphly3275]

Much of this is to give business to the licensing CLASSES. It si law that all alcoghol servers have a state a[pproved TRIANG certificate. The only one who benefoits is the ONLINE CHOOL . There must be a million alcohol servers in the state. ALL have to spend about $20 on an online class, that is.... a series of very racist andcartoons with multiple guess tests... MILLIONS of dollars going to online schools..

[@jeremymercer5655]

Comment to feed the algorithm

[@gregleuze6657]

Whaaaaaaaaaaaat

[@TheSummersilk]

Fuck goverment licencing lost me there. You want to trust government to make that determination?

[@TheSummersilk]

1:46 they could fuck a deadun? that would be bad. Like worse than zombie bad.

[@blanksymortimer4088]

bad ad thumbs down :(

[@christen1075]

Either provide content or provide comedy…you shouldn’t do both

[@Eatbutternow]

Or maybe you could lighten up