There is public support for maintaining licensing standards for professions that have an impact on health, safety and welfare, says the Alliance for Responsible Professional Licensing. ARPL bases its statement on the results of a national survey, conducted for the alliance by Benenson Strategy Group.

More than 70% of those surveyed say it is important to regulate professionals in engineering, architecture, landscape architecture, accounting and related fields that affect health, safety and welfare. Seventy-one percent say licensing should be required unless it can be proven that eliminating it will not have a negative impact on health, safety and welfare. And 67% of those surveyed say consumers are "best protected by a system that regulates education, examination and experience standards."

Collective Voice

ARPL was created to provide a collective voice--to policymakers and the public--about the issue of professional licensing. It also has a mission to promote ARPL's views on appropriate levels of licensing required by law, which ARPL thinks are under attack. 

The West Virginia legislature introduced legislation early this month that would weaken licensing requirements. And according to ARPL, eliminating licensing has become a priority of the American Legislative Exchange Council and Americans for Prosperity. 

Members of ARPL are the American Institute of Architects, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards, the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, the National Society of Professional Engineers and the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy are also members.