Fair Chance Licensing (H 5863, S 610)

The ACLU, along with a number of other advocacy groups, has long been concerned about the impact of criminal-record related professional licensing restrictions. Dozens of licensed occupations in our state have some form of conviction-related barrier codified by legislation, and every year legislation gets introduced to include more barriers to licensing based on a person’s past criminal record – no matter how old or irrelevant that record may be. Reference to some of these bills is included earlier within this section.

This legislation would have ensured that an individual’s prior criminal record is not the sole measure by which an applicant is disqualified for a license, and would have created a comprehensive process for determining the relevancy of a conviction to the license being sought. We testified in support of the bill, noting that it would give a fair chance to all Rhode Islanders who meet applicable and appropriate qualifications to obtain an occupational license. Although the Senate passed this bill, the House version was never acted upon and died.