ATLANTA — A new law is designed to fix problems that Channel 2 Action News has exposed over the past year with Georgia’s professional licensing boards.
More than 1 million Georgians are required to be licensed by those boards to do their jobs.
Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray has been hearing from Georgians frustrated with the process. Now, the legislature has taken action designed to speed up professional licensing.
In a series of stories stretching back more than a year, Channel 2 Action News Investigates has documented how Georgians have run into big delays and roadblocks trying to obtain or renew their licenses. People like nail technician Pamela Kelly.
“My final resort was just going to be driving down to Macon, Georgia,” she said.
Hairstylist Chelsea Buffolino also had problems.
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“They tell you it takes a maximum of 15 business days from application to approval. It’s been six months for me,” Buffolino said.
In May, Gray reported how the Georgia legislature ordered a joint study committee after concerns the professional licensing boards were “dismissive at best and failing to respond.”
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told Gray that the result is a new law that gives the licensing division of his office new authority to streamline the process.
“If the board doesn’t meet soon enough and fast enough, we can administratively issue that license so people can get to work. We think that’s really important,” Raffensperger said.
The law also gives the governor new power to remove licensing board members who aren’t doing the job.
“I’m a licensed structural engineer, civil engineer, contractor. And so, I get their pain points because I can have these pain points,” Raffensperger said.
These new legal changes come after the Secretary of State last year replaced the licensing department’s 20-year-old software with a new system.
“Obviously I want to get new equipment but also want to work on streamlining regulations and the whole licensing process,” Raffensperger said.
The bill also extends the grace period for renewing expired licenses to 45 days.
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