§26H‑2  Policy.  The legislaturehereby adopts the following policies regarding the regulation of certainprofessions and vocations:

(1)  The regulation and licensing of professions andvocations shall be undertaken only where reasonably necessary to protect thehealth, safety, or welfare of consumers of the services; the purpose ofregulation shall be the protection of the public welfare and not that of theregulated profession or vocation;

(2)  Regulation in the form of full licensure or otherrestrictions on certain professions or vocations shall be retained or adoptedwhen the health, safety, or welfare of the consumer may be jeopardized by thenature of the service offered by the provider;

(3)  Evidence of abuses by providers of the serviceshall be accorded great weight in determining whether regulation is desirable;

(4)  Professional and vocational regulations whichartificially increase the costs of goods and services to the consumer shall beavoided except in those cases where the legislature determines that this costis exceeded by the potential danger to the consumer;

(5)  Professional and vocational regulations shall beeliminated when the legislature determines that they have no further benefitsto consumers;

(6)  Regulation shall not unreasonably restrict entryinto professions and vocations by all qualified persons; and

(7)  Fees for regulation and licensure shall beimposed for all vocations and professions subject to regulation; provided thatthe aggregate of the fees for any given regulatory program shall not be lessthan the full cost of administering that program. [L 1977, c 70, pt of §2; am L1980, c 142, §1; am L 1996, c 45, §1]