In March, the Badger Institute and Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) hosted a Capitol symposium titled, “Bipartisan Approaches to Licensing Reform.” The event featured Patty Salazar, executive director of the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, and Iris Hentze, policy specialist at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In February, Badger Institute Policy Analyst Julie Grace wrote about Meggan Thompson, a clinical social worker who practiced her profession for 12 years in California before moving with her family to Wisconsin for a better quality of life. Despite a master’s degree from the University of Southern California, years of professional experience and teaching online master’s-level courses, Thompson struggled with Wisconsin bureaucracy for more than a year just to secure a temporary social work license. Grace and Thompson testified before a state Senate committee on reforms that would streamline the licensing process.

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, the Badger Institute advanced several policy reform ideas for improving public health and promoting economic recovery, including licensing reciprocity, expansion of telemedicine, allowing for more hospital beds, removing a law that drives up prescription drug costs, preventing the spread of disease within the corrections system, safeguarding against wasteful spending and more. The Badger Institute partnered with WILL, Americans for Prosperity Wisconsin, and the MacIver Institute to form the Wisconsin Free-market Coalition to work together to advance policy reforms and host online events.