“Georgia citizens with criminal records will see expanded opportunities to find employment and rejoin productive society thanks to a new bill signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp on May 12.

Senate Bill (SB) 207 makes some significant reforms to the state’s occupational licensing laws and will require, among other things, that officials prove a direct relationship between a person’s criminal history and the line of work they’re pursuing before they can deny them a license.

An occupational license is a government-issued state credential that many workers must obtain before they can legally work in fields ranging from cosmetology to contracting.  In Georgia, more than one in five jobs requires an occupational license, including one in four of the state’s high-demand jobs. Georgia already has a shortage of workers in licensed fields like healthcare and childcare, with 65,000 licensed positions sitting unfilled today and projections showing that number could triple as the current workforce retires.

At the same time, these jobs are going unfilled, and some Georgia citizens are getting rejected from opportunities to get these occupational licenses due to criminal backgrounds that do not necessarily correlate with any actual risks of misconduct on the job.”

From Reason.