JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves held a news conference on Tuesday to discuss the Universal Recognition of the Occupational Licenses Act, which goes into effect on July 1, 2021.
House Bill 1263, which was signed by the governor in March 2021, requires the state to recognize occupational licenses obtained in another state. Representative Becky Currie authored the bill.
Occupational licenses, which are government regulated, are intended to recognize the qualifications of a worker to provide certain services.
“We need to look at, every state agency needs to look at their regulations and make sure they’re in the spirit of this law, and the spirit of it is, we want people to come to work here, raise their family here. If you have no problems, there’s no reason why you can’t come to Mississippi and go to work,” said Currie.
Mississippi was one of the first states in the nation to pass a universal recognition bill.
Reeves said he hopes the law will serve as an incentive for out of state teachers. His goal is to have more certified teachers per capita.
