Occupational licensing hits home in Albuquerque

The Albuquerque Journal’s nationally-syndicated parenting columnist is in trouble. The problem, according to the paper, is that Kentucky’s Attorney General wants him to stop offering advice in his columns because he’s not licensed in Kentucky. They also say that the advice column amounts to provision of “mental health services.”

The guy has been writing columns since 1976, but apparently the ever-vigilant folks in Kentucky just decided that the column is a problem. This is just one specific illustration of the very serious problems associate with professional licensing laws and why RGF is hosting an event on Wednesday, July 31, discussing the issue of professional licensing in order to celebrate Milton Friedman Day.

The speaker comes to us from the public interest law firm, Institute for Justice, which sued North Carolina in a very similar situation to defend a blogger who was offering dietary advice without a state license.

I don’t know if “Dear Abby” or Ann Landers are/were under attack for their advice or whether the Car Talk guys are licensed mechanics, but that is the nice thing about advice: you can take it or leave it.