Key Takeaways
- Licensing delays, even in areas as crucial as health care, keep qualified professionals from working and patients and consumers from accessing services.
- Washington state has increasingly joined profession-specific licensing and mobility compacts. This piecemeal approach underscores both the need and desire for a unified alternative like universal licensure recognition (ULR).
- Recent research from Archbridge Institute shows Washington state maintains a relatively high occupational licensing burden, ranking 11th nationally in a 2025 index, while earlier Institute for Justice research found the state licenses a large share of lower-income occupations — highlighting persistent barriers to workforce entry.
- As of 2025, 28 states have passed universal licensing reforms — some better than others. There are clear models for the state.
- ULR preserves safety authority. States still review discipline, require background checks and require applicants to demonstrate knowledge of state-specific laws where necessary. The reform removes redundant barriers, not safety protections.
- Recent national research links universal recognition for physician licenses to improved access to care and lower cost barriers.
- The Washington State Board of Nursing says the Nurse Licensure Compact “increases access to nursing care while maintaining public protection at the state level.”
- Free-market mechanisms, employer reputation and civil liability already act as safeguards against bad actors in most professions.
Introduction
Washington state is experiencing occupational licensing bottlenecks and various workforce shortages, including in sectors as critical as health care. These barriers prevent qualified professionals already licensed in other states from working here, even as employers struggle to fill positions. New residents, including military spouses, are often unable to get to work because of unnecessary licensing requirements.
In response, the state has increasingly turned to interstate licensing compacts. While multistate agreements increase worker mobility in specific fields and are welcome, they are limited in scope, administratively fragmented and slow to expand.
For an example of compacts’ slow implementation, look no further than the most recent compact adopted. The Washington state Legislature voted near-unanimously to pass House Bill 2088 in March 2026, allowing the state to become a member of the Dietitian Licensure Compact. The compact is not yet operational nationally, however. That is expected to take one to two years. Even if it becomes operational sometime in 2027, Washington state’s own law does not take effect until July 1, 2028. That means the state is on hold until 2028, at the least, before realizing any workforce benefit. The delay highlights a central weakness of compacts: They can improve mobility, but only through a slower, profession-by-profession process.
Universal licensure recognition (ULR) is a broader, more timely and more coherent approach. As of 2025, 28 states have passed universal licensing reforms — some better than others — and there are clear legislative models for the state.
