By Jeremy Horpedahl, ACRE Director and UCA Associate Professor of Economics The Arkansas General Assembly has informally adjourned, meaning that the time to pass new bills is over. They will reconvene in May to formally wrap up the session, but the major action is now concluded. Prior to the session, ACRE put together a Top […]
Regulation
Occupational Licensing-related Bills will Benefit Arkansans
by Zachary Burt, ACRE Policy Analyst The 2023 Legislative Session has seen a flurry of occupational licensing-related bills over the past two months. Many of these bills make small tweaks to licensing rules or board compositions, but several bills with a potentially large impact have either already been passed or stand a high chance of […]
ACRE’s Top 10 Policy Goals for the 2023 Arkansas Legislative Session
By Jeremy Horpedahl, ACRE Director The Arkansas General Assembly convenes for the 2023 general session on January 9, 2023. Over the weeks and months that follow, the Legislature will consider bills on a wide variety of issues affecting individuals and businesses in Arkansas. Researchers at ACRE have been hard at work since the last legislative […]
ACRE Student Fellow Presented with Research Award at SOBIE Conference
On Apr 14, 2022, ACRE student fellow Caleb Vines presented his paper “Do Barriers to Work for Justice-Impacted People Incentivize Criminal Behavior?”, co-authored by ACRE policy analyst Zachary Burt and ACRE affiliated scholar Dr. Thomas Snyder, at the Society for Business, Industry, and Economics (SOBIE) conference in Sandestin, Florida. The paper explores the phenomenon of “hidden […]
Sunset Review Committee Meets to Discuss Athletic Trainer Licensing
Does Arkansas make it harder for athletic trainers to do their job? On November 18th, the Occupational Licensing Review Subcommittee of the Arkansas State Legislature met to review licensing requirements from several state licensing boards. Included among these was the State Board of Athletic Trainers. Athletic trainers are skilled professionals that specialize in preventing and […]
What is occupational licensing, and how does it affect Arkansans? Answers from ACRE Researcher Zachary Burt on Believe in Arkansas
Occupational licensing is a government issued permission slip to work for some people in certain professions. Roughly one in five US workers need such a permission slip. The Institute for Justice, a public-interest law firm, ranked Arkansas as the 6th most burdensome state for licensing in their latest edition of License to Work, a publication […]
Occupational Licensing Review Committee Kicks Off Second Session
By Zach Burt The Occupational Licensing Review Subcommittee recently began its second-ever round of license reviews since its creation in 2019. Representatives from the Department of Labor and Licensing and the Department of Agriculture presented arguments to the committee about the importance of licensing abstracters, plant breeders, industrial hemp growers, and agricultural seed dealers/labelers. On […]
ACRE Director Discusses Legislative Session
By Caleb Taylor ACRE Director and UCA Professor of Economics Dr. David Mitchell joined Americans for Prosperity-Arkansas on May 20th to discuss some of ACRE’s work in the recent legislative session. Mitchell said ACRE experts speak to legislators and community groups “to show what the data actually shows on a variety of issues.” Mitchell said: […]
Improve Economic Opportunities by Ending Fee-Only Licenses
By Caleb Taylor Should Arkansas eliminate many fee-only licenses? The 2019 Arkansas Legislature passed Act 600, mandating sunset reviews of every licensed occupation in Arkansas. “Occupational Licensing and Arkansas’s Act 600,” by ACRE Policy Analyst Alex Kanode discusses the reforms and missed opportunities of the Arkansas Legislative Council’s Occupational Licensing Review Subcommittee’s first round of […]
Smith Testifies on Shampooing De-Licensure Bill
By Caleb Taylor ACRE Legislative Research Associate Dr. Nathan Smith recently testified in favor of legislation removing barriers to work to certain cosmetology workers House Bill 1746 delicenses shampooers and exempts those who provide “simple” hairstyling services from being required to complete 1500 training hours to get a cosmetology license. Smith said at a House […]