Bills would make it easier for people with criminal records to get occupational licenses

The state House of Representatives on Thursday approved a package of bills that would make it easier for Michiganders with criminal records to get occupational licenses.

House Bills 4488-4493, which would restrict the use of criminal records to determine eligibility for occupational or professional licenses, passed unanimously and will move on to the Senate. 

Rep. Brandt Iden, R-Kalamazoo, the primary sponsor of the main bill in the package, said under the current law, people can be denied a license for all types of convictions, such as low-level drug offenses and mistakes they made when they were young. During a House Ways and Means Committee hearing last week, he said the proposed reform is a bipartisan issue "that basically puts folks back to work."

"I took this on, along with my colleagues who are on the other side of the aisle ... to say we want to stand up for folks and really provide them a path when trying to rehabilitate themselves. And I think this package of bills really does that," said Iden, committee chairman. 

Licenses are required for about 150 careers in Michigan, ranging from barbers to acupuncturists to architects, according to the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA). In some careers, applicants with certain convictions are disqualified by law. 

The bills address "good moral character" provisions in licensing. Currently, any type of  criminal conviction can be used as evidence in a licensing board's determination that someone lacks the good moral character required to enter the profession.

Under the bills, licensing boards would not be able to consider misdemeanor offenses when assessing moral character. Felonies could only be considered if the offense was directly related to the activities of the occupation, if the conviction involves a clear risk to public safety, if the person would be likely to commit a subsequent offense with the license, or if a subsequent offense with an occupational license would cause greater harm to the public than if the person did not have a license. 

Boards that license child care organizations, nursing homes, adult foster care facilities, law enforcement officers and attorneys could use a person's criminal history as evidence in determining their moral character without meetings those requirements. 

Peter Ruark, senior policy analyst for the Michigan League for Public Policy, said the bills would remove broad restrictions on felony convictions, but licensing boards could still determine that certain types of felony convictions are of concern for specific professions. 

"There are a lot of professions in which having a felony record for something completely unrelated to their occupation just should not be a barrier to getting a license in that occupation," Ruark said. 

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Jarrett Skorup, spokesman for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, echoed that sentiment, saying, "a past mistake should not prevent someone from being able to shampoo hair or put up gutters for a living." 

Skorup said the legislation would codify a directive by former Gov. Rick Snyder, which has been continued by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, that required LARA to remove the "felony box" from occupational and construction code licensing applications. 

LARA supports the bill package, Iden said. 

Rep. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, D-Detroit, who sponsored one of the bills, testified to the Ways and Means Committee that the state can't find economic renewal following the coronavirus crisis without removing barriers for formerly incarcerated people seeking work. 

“All of those jobs that are coming, after we go through this period of COVID-19, we want to make sure that we come out on the other side and that we bring along our returning citizens with us," she said.

Angie Jackson covers the challenges of formerly incarcerated citizens as a corps member with Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project, with support from the Hudson-Webber Foundation. Click here to support her work. Contact Angie: ajackson@freepress.com; 313-222-1850. Follow her on Twitter: @AngieJackson23