CLEAR

Year-in-Review: 2021 Regulatory News Trends

CLEAR’s Regulatory News blog strives to bring you news and updates about what’s going on in the professional and occupational regulation arena. What were some of the trends we saw in 2021? The following is not a ranking of importance or an exhaustive list, but here are some of the themes we reported on in 2021:

• Disciplining practitioners for COVID mis/disinformation,
• Mobility,
• DEI and discrimination in regulation,
• Reducing barriers to licensure,
• Licensure issues for veterans and military members, and
• Telepractice.

Read the full year-in-review article

CLEAR will be releasing a podcast episode in February to review trends in professional regulation and hear reactions and further examples from international perspectives.

US: state regulator to head Civil Rights Division

Maryland Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez will head the Civil Rights Division of the US  Department of Justice, according to an announcement by President Barack Obama. As labor secretary, Perez oversees the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, a position he will retain until the end of Maryland's legislative session. Read more.

CLEAR: Sunset, Sunrise and State Agency Audits updated

CLEAR's Sunset, Sunrise and State Agency Audits, an online resource, is now updated in preparation for the upcoming legislative sessions. Sunset is the automatic termination of a regulatory agency unless legislative action is taken to continue it. Sunrise is a process under which an occupation or profession seeking state regulation must propose model legislation, along with cost and benefit estimates of the proposed regulation. All state agencies periodically undergo performance audits, also known as legislative or evaluation audits, in addition to financial audits in some states. Many of these various reports are online and may be located through this CLEAR resource.

CLEAR: Online Legislative Resources for Regulators

One of the most often-asked questions of CLEAR is what other jurisdictions are doing in various areas of interest. We often turn to online resources that help us respond to these inquiries. CLEAR also receives inquiries regarding the slow, but steady long-term move toward global standards setting in professions. Now, CLEAR News Online readers have these resources available to them in one handy reference page - CLEAR's Online Legislative Resources for Regulators.