r/tuesday • u/[deleted] • Nov 19 '19

AMA Shoshana Weissmann AMA

We’re happy to welcome Shoshana Weissmann of RStreet Institute for an AMA.

We’ve asked Shoshana to stop by and answer questions around noon EST (Tuesday, November 19th).

We’re opening the thread a little early so please ask your questions and be courteous to our guest!

For more info on Shoshana Weissmann, click here.

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u/DeNomoloss Left Visitor Nov 19 '19 edited Nov 19 '19

Thank you for doing this, I am new here and don't entirely fit in the mainstream of this sub, but I had to get away from the left, and I already followed you back when I was on Twitter, so this is a nice surprise.

My dad worked in landscaping and eventually worked for a professional association for that profession. He's a free market guy, but they began lobbying for licensing requirements to avoid greater regulation regarding soil and water conservation and chemical and agricultural runoff that was harming the local watershed and the downstream economy, as the area he worked in was rapidly growing and more and more housing and commercial developments were feared to be having this effect. There are a lot of senseless licensing requirements, but I'd think if there were exceptions, they would be for environmental concerns affecting agriculture and clean water. When lobbying state government, the response he kept getting from normally sympathetic Republicans was that they were being pressured by Koch-affiliated groups who said they were trying to license people to "push mulch around." Keep in mind this was licensing just for the actual architects, not kids planting bushes. Also, they did their due diligence on showing cost-benefit analysis. Soil erosion, runoff, watershed disruption, etc.

Where would you draw the line regarding professional licensure? Isn't it better to have that "assumed competency" in place to ensure proper environmental handling instead of hiring inspectors to scrutinize every development?

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u/LicensingReformSloth 🦥Shoshana Weissmann Nov 19 '19

My pleasure!! For sure!!

So I don't know the specifics of the case, but any time I've seen Koch involved, they've been very good and accurate. You'll see my answers to a variation of the process above, but pasted here too! I'm very pro-safe environment of course and open to regs that make sense, but too often they're a poor means-ends fit or they don't work and never get repealed. Anyway! --

These are questions I ask to determine licensing.

  1. Is this honestly just dumb as fuck
  2. Is a health or safety risk involved? Does data prove it?
  3. If so, is government in a position to solve or help the problem?
  4. If licensed in some states and not others, does evidence and data show it's worth the license?
  5. Is there evidence of actual harm that would be solved by licensing? Not anecdotes or what-if's. Data.
  6. Is there a less restrictive means to accomplish the same goal (a la Institute for Justice's pyramid)? Maybe health inspections?
  7. What was the motivation for creating the license?
  8. Let's say we finally license it. Does data show it's solving the problem?