NIC has established a government relations team whose focus is to support NIC leadership by monitoring proposed changes and/or additions to state legislation and regulations affecting occupational licensing of cosmetology and related fields. NIC monitors proposed changes through:
- State Legislation
- Voices of moderation - counter arguments from outside the profession
- State organizations focusing on occupational licensing
- Proposed deregulation
- Earlier this year, the Council of State Governments (CSG), the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), and the National Governors Association (NGA) came together to assist states in improving their understanding of occupational licensure issues and enhancing licensure portability.
- CSG, NCSL and NGA work directly with state officials to review existing licensing requirements and ensure that criteria do not create unnecessary barriers to individuals wanting to enter the labor market. Consortium states also compare their own legislation with that of other states to improve reciprocity provisions and portability for selected occupations.
- During the first phase of this project, the 11 states in the consortium—Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Nevada, Utah and Wisconsin—have been working to improve their states’ policies and have benefitted from multi-state team meetings, state-specific technical assistance, in-state learning consortium meetings, and support from all three national organizations for state action plan development and implementation.
- CSG launched a new website that pulls together CSG’s expertise on the issue as well as news and current events such as seminars, passed legislation, and working initiatives.