Pennsylvania has dozens of professional licenses, from doctors to accountants to landscape architects to auctioneer examiners. Each license has specific requirements that an individual must meet in order to be eligible to be issued a license. These requirements are designed to ensure that an individual has the skill and/or experience necessary in order to perform their profession reliably. However, certain professions unnecessarily require that an individual be a United States citizen in order to be licensed or serve on a licensure board.
 
It is for this reason that I will be introducing a package of bills that would amend the various licensure laws in order to remove these citizenship requirements. These barriers ignore every other qualification that an individual would still need to attain, including post-graduate education, passing required licensure examinations, and having a clean criminal record.
 
To be clear, this legislation would not make any changes that would allow undocumented immigrants – who federal law still prohibit from being employed – to earn professional licenses. It would simply expand the same opportunities to become licensed professionals that we currently offer to individuals who are legally permitted to work in other areas of licensure.
 
I look forward to your support for this opportunity to further expand our workforce in a fair and equitable manner.