The Virginian-Pilot
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Gov. Bob McDonnell has proposed deregulating three professions - hair braiders, interior designers and mold removers. As the General Assembly nears the halftime of its session, one of those professions has gained ground in its fight to stay regulated.
The winner (or loser, depending on your perspective): designers.
The state Senate has endorsed dropping regs for braiders and mold workers, but deleted the proposal to deregulate interior designers. A House committee also stripped the designer-deregulation language from its version of the bill Thursday.
Local designer Matthew Lee partly credits a lobbying drive by state designer groups. They engineered a letter-writing campaign and met with legislators "to put a face to the profession," said Lee, professional development director of the Virginia chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers.
The profession is committed to "upholding the health, safety and welfare of all people that interact with the environments that we touch," said Lee, who works for Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas + Co. in Norfolk. "I think it's very important that people who are responsible for those types of things are watched over by the state, just like they do in architecture."
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Sidelines Halftime Report
Buy more than one gun a month, No weed sales at the ABC store, Ultrasound before abortion, Hair Braiders (week lobby) deregulated. WOW what a great first half! You guys must not drive in Hampton Roads. Oh that's right... new tolls coming! Is this what we're paying for? I mean voting for! Concentrate on Education funding and ROADS. Insurance companies will never let the states divest themselves of regulation or certification.
The most needed
The Mold removers, since they directly affect the health of the populatin, are the ones most needing regulations. Regulating hair cosmeticians and designers, it would seem to me, would do nothing but stifle creativity.
Professional licensing
Professional licensing, including for dentists, is for the purpose of suppressing competition, not the safety of the public.
Professionals should be certified by their liability insurers (much like Underwriters Laboratory certifies appliances) and not by the State. It is, after all, the insurer's who are at risk if their insured messes up, and thus they have a vested interest in insuring only safe practitioners or charging less than safe practitioners a high enough premium to encourage to remedy their faults.
If someone chooses to go to a dentist who cannot get liability insurance, they do so at their own risk, and good luck with that.
But we should look for a professionals insurance certificate, and not a license form the State.