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Preserving the American Dream

More Work. Less Dependency.

Work is key to unlocking the American Dream, but it is under attack by ever-growing red tape at the state and federal level.

Outdated, expensive, and overly burdensome licensing regimes keep many from entering their desired profession, while local governments punish entrepreneurship by making it difficult to start a home-based business.

At the same time, bureaucrats still holding onto a slow, inflexible permitting process can stop economic expansion in its tracks—if even more regulations from unaccountable agencies haven’t already prevented progress before it could even begin.

The Biden administration has only made our economic climate worse by issuing more costly regulations than any other administration in modern history.

These barriers must be taken down to fill millions of open jobs, jumpstart the economy, and preserve the American Dream for generations to come.

More Work. Less Dependency. Source: U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

The right policies to preserve the American Dream.

Licensing reform:

• Enact universal licensing to allow for the recognition of a person’s out-of-state license once residency is established and certain qualifications are met.
• Grant a license to a person who completes an apprenticeship in a state-licensed occupation or an occupation with a similar scope of practice.
• Require licensing boards to periodically expire unless reauthorized by the legislature and establish a policy requiring the least restrictive regulation necessary.

Permitting Reform:

• Prohibit local governments from requiring a special permit for home-based work, creating higher standards to start a home-based business, or requiring a permit for do-it-yourself projects.
• Set deadlines for building permit approvals by local governments. If deadlines are missed, require refunds on permit fees or automatically approve applications.

Regulatory Reform:

• Prevent unelected bureaucrats from making law through so-called “regulatory guidance.” Unadopted rules should be challenged, not carry the force of law.
• Require regulations to periodically sunset and require agencies to reevaluate and resubmit those through the established rulemaking process.
• Allow regulatory sandboxes to be established. Under these programs, start-ups can benefit from temporary exemptions to regulations in order to innovate.

Our Preserving the American Dream Experts
Alli Fick

Research Director

Brian Sikma

Senior Fellow

Haley Holik

Senior Fellow

Jonathan Bain

Senior Research Fellow

Jonathan Ingram

Vice President of Policy and Research

Nicholas Adolphsen

State Government Affairs Director

Scott Centorino

Deputy Policy Director

At FGA, we don’t just talk about changing policy—we make it happen.

By partnering with FGA through a gift, you can create more policy change that returns America to a country where entrepreneurship thrives, personal responsibility is rewarded, and paychecks replace welfare checks.