WESA Pittsburgh: PA Senate Unanimously Passes Proposal to Help Ex-Offenders Get Professional Licenses
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The legislation would stop licensing boards from withholding certifications for convictions that are not directly related to a specific line of work.
Jenna Moll, deputy director of the Justice Action Network, said such an approach makes sense.
“We don’t really care if somebody is applying to have a barber’s license [who was] convicted of very minor drug possession 30 years ago,” Moll said. “In contrast, however, we wouldn’t want somebody that was convicted of fraud to get a job as a bank teller or kind of anything in the financial services industry.”