New York discriminates in occupational licensing against non-residents - and not only against non-resident attorneys

I wrote on this blog earlier about discrimination by the State of New York against non-resident attorneys - which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit allowed and endorsed.


The pretext for such discrimination is that the "residential attorneys" can be served at their home address.

Yet, that "advantage" goes out the door since "residential attorneys" in New York who happily work out of a P.O. Box, are not required to publish their home address, and thus require an investigator to first verify their "home address" before such service.

In any event, with attorney licensing, non-resident attorneys are at least allowed to apply for law licenses in New York and are actually issued licenses - even though they are not allowed, after the 2nd Circuit decision, to practice without a "physical office" in the State of New York.

New York State Department of State went even further with discrimination.

It requires residency in New York as a condition to even apply for a professional license:

Such a condition flat-out blocks non-residents from having practicing regulated professions licensed by New York Department of State, and that is a violation of the Privileges and Immunities Clause of the U.S. Constitution and of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

When you press on "Learn More" link in the upper right corner of the page 

of the professions licensed in this discriminatory way by the NYS Department of State, the link leads you to a blank page.  I tried it several times.

Yet, the list of at least some occupations where NYS Department of State requires a New York state residency in order to issue an occupational license, is provided on the website of NYS Department of State here:

NYS Department of State warns on this page that licenses of

• Real Estate Brokers;
• Real Estate "salespersons"; and
• "Appearance Enhancement Licensees":
• Cosmetologists;
• Nail "specialists";
• Specialists in "esthetics" - whatever that is;
• Specialists in "natural hair styling" - that would be, must likely, African American hair braiding discriminated against across the United States and subject to several federal lawsuits in other states;
• see reports about such lawsuits in Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Utah
• Waxing "specialists" and businesses;
• Barber Operators and businesses -

The above additional professions are also prohibited by NYS Department of State to non-residents of the State of New York.

It is interesting that NYS Department of State does not allow search for suspended or revoked licenses - as, for example, an attorney database allows to looks at suspensions and disbarments.

In a way, then NYS Department treats people who never had a license equally with those whose license was suspended or revoked - unlike NYS Court of Appeals that approved, two days ago, a differential treatment of unauthorized practice of law (which does not appear in the actual UPL statute) between paralegals who never had a law license, and paralegals whose license was suspended or disbarred - while paralegals are not a regulated profession in New York and a law license is not required to work as a paralegal.

Of course, there is absolutely no rational basis as to why only residents of the State of New York are allowed to work in New York in these 30 occupations:

1. Alarm Installers;
2. Apartment Sharing Agents;
3. Apartment Information Vendor;
4. Armored Car Guards;
5. Armored Car Carrier;
6. Athlete Agents;
7. Bail Enforcement Agents;
8. "Bedding", whatever that is;
9. Central Dispatch Facilities - which can be virtual and done on the Internet from any location within the U.S.;
10. Document Destruction Contractor;
11. Document Destruction Contractor Branch Office;
12. Hearing Aid Dispenser;
13. Hearing Aid Dispenser Business;
14. Home Inspection;
15. Private Investigator;
16. Real Estate Appraiser;
17. Notary Public;
18. Proprietary Employer of Security Guards;
19. Security Guard;
20. Telemarketing business;
21. Ticket Reseller;
22. Ticket Reseller Branch Office;
23. Watch Guard and Patrol Agency;
24. Real Estate "salespersons"; and
25. Cosmetologists;
26. Nail "specialists";
27. Specialists in "esthetics" - whatever that is;
28. Specialists in "natural hair styling"
29. Waxing "specialists" and businesses;
30. Barber Operators and businesses

Discrimination against out-of-staters does nothing to protect consumers of services in these professions, shrinks the numbers of service providers, allows resident providers to raise price on services while providing no variety that would have existed if non-residents would be allowed to compete with resident licensees.

In other words, such non-resident-blocking policy of New York Department of State is designed (and likely, by the market players within these licensed professions who usually populate licensing boards) only for anticompetitive purposes of quashing competition and maintaining high prices for the consumer.

Is New York waiting for a federal lawsuit on privileges and immunities grounds?  A lawsuit for which New York taxpayers will have to pay?

I will continue to cover the topic of the wrong uses of occupational licensing, including New York's discrimination against non-residents in allowing to earn a living in regulated professions.

Stay tuned.