Transcripts For CSPAN2 2017 Western Governors Assocation Win

2017 winter meeting at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in phoenix. In this next portion, labor secretary alexander costa delivers the keynote speech. He talks about labor trends in Western States in ways that governors can partner with each other and the federal government to create more jobs. This is 45 minutes. We have a very, very special guest to address this audience and engage with the governors and to introduce that gas, i am happy to recognize our chairman, the honorable dennis after. Before i introduce our guest, secretary acosta, id like to talk about the Workforce Development initiative that i began as chair of wga. All of us face the challenge of preparing our citizens for work place that looked a little bit different than they did when i started my working career with my parents or grandparents did, certainly. At four workshops this past fall, Workforce Development initiative brought together policymakers, business leaders, educators and others are working to create more opportunity and strengthen our economy in sharing best practices and discussing common challenges, essentially learning from each other what we could do to address workforce challenges. In every Western State is grappling with this. I know from conversations with my fellow governors, they will identified this as a problem that we face. And the work has enabled us to identify some common themes such as increasing career Awareness Among our young people so as they are making choices about the academic pathways to follow, they have a sense of which pathways lead to Economic Opportunities and Job Opportunities and which pathways maybe lead to less opportunities, fewer of those opportunities. Theyve also helped us identify workbased learning opportunities as an especially good way to learn the skills that one needs to succeed in the career of choice. The initiative we started is going to continue this winter with webinars that will build on topics that were discussed at the workshops and they will also have other opportunities for participants to continue to engage and inform that first year report that will be issued at the wga meeting next june but weve got a short video here now that talks about the progress of the initiatives so lets take a look at that video. [music] our system is really not working for so many of our young people. They are either not getting through high school or if they graduate from high school, they are not pursuing any Postsecondary Education to train themselves for the workforce, and if they do enter some postsecondary, they are often taling to complete. They end up with debt, and up with a burden but no skill or credential that can make them valuable to employers who are seeking employees. [music] given this information, one of the things we know is we need to tell our High Schoolers take some kind of skills training, some kind of Postsecondary Education is essential if you want to be successful, and the world of work. If you want to have something to offer employers that is of value to them. Good production jim, very good. [applause] that opening guy wasnt that good. Theres probably not a better person to discuss Workforce Development issues that our next speaker, the us secretary of labor, alexander acosta. He embodies the American Dream through hard work and determination, hes come a long way from his double beginnings as the son of cuban refugees. Hes a First Generation College graduate, turning undergraduate degrees in law degrees harvard university. His impressive resume includes working at the law clerk for Justice Samuel alito junior at the us court of appeals. Teaching at George Mason Universitys Antonin Scalia school of law. Serving as a member of the National Labor relations board, working as the us attorney for the Southern District of florida and serving as the dean of the Florida International University School of law. College of law, excuse me. That breath of Life Experience served as an Excellent Foundation for his current job as United States secretary of labor, where he works to foster, promote and develop the welfare of wage earners, job seekers and retirees of the United States. Its an enormous responsibility, secretary acosta manages 7000 federal workers charged with this task across our nation. I was pleased when secretary acosta came to south dakota for the first of our four workshops and ive been impressed with his commitment to working on behalf of todays labor force and for his vision for the workforce of tomorrow so please welcome our guest speaker, secretary alexander acosta, the us secretary of labor. [applause] thank you for the introduction and thank you for the invitation to join you again. As some of you know, governor new guard has been very active in the workforce front. He serves as the department of labors top force on apprenticeships and i was so pleased to see this opening video. Weve been working so hard to foster apprenticeships and what we are calling in and driven education, education that focuses on providing the skills of the workplace is demanding. And i like to say that technology has changed so much. The iphone didnt exist 10 years ago. Technology needs to change. The workforce is changing. Word processors have taken over typewriters. The skills of today are not the same skills as yesterday, yet if you look at education, education has not kept pace and its so important that education keep pace as governor do guard is very much a leader in this effort. I wanted to take this opportunity today however to talk about a different topic. And i wanted to introduce it by really taking advantage of things out here in the west because the west holds a very special place in the hearts and minds of americans and you know, internationally, the west frames the way so many people see america. The old cowboy movies and whatnot has in a lot of ways determined a vision of america. So how to convey that . If you can go back to Theodore Roosevelt and when he gave a speech at the dakota territory, he said the people in coming years will witness the power and glory of this country in its fullness in the west and if you look at the five states with the lowest employment rate , four of those five states in the nation are represented right here at this table and i as i was reading my material coming in today, i would see the employment rate in state after state. And the accomplishments of these governments and the accomplishment for the state of the last. For the most part, with a few exceptions but for the most part in terms of employment rate, its really phenomenal. And so in so many ways, the west is a great place to sort of reintroduce a very important topic andthe topic is this. The topic is job creation. So President Trump has charged me with a very simple set of priorities. Job creation, more job creation and even more job creation. Its pretty simple. We want lots of jobs, we want good jobs and we want safe jobs for all working americans. How do we get there . A few mechanisms. One is deregulation and let me take a nuanced approach to that. All regulations are not necessarily bad regulations. Common sense regulations, particularly those that help health and safety, have an important way to protecting america. Regulations that merely an act executive fiat, but could not be adopted through the legislative process or regulations that protect special interests are a very different thing. As we look at regulations, we have to be mindful of the cost and the cost benefit analysis of regulation. These costs are incredibly, incredibly high so in fiscal year 2016, federal agencies issued over 80 major rules. A major rule is a rule that has an effect on 100 million or more annually on the american economy. 100 million or more and 80 of those were issued in just one year. And so a study estimated Regulatory Compliance and the Economic Impact of federal regulation are approximately 1. 9 trillion annually. Again, let me be clear. Some regulations are important. Are very costly, but the hefty price tag is just aside because they are necessary to prevent a serious harm but we need to ask is that hefty price tag justified . Id like to say that that costliness is certainly a rationale. And a very good one. Id like to say that it shouldnt be only rationale and theres a second rationale that is important to think about that i think isparticularly appropriate to hear , and that is liberty. And that is the impact that regulations have on liberty. The word liberty appears in so many of our founding documents, the declaration of independence, constitution, ledge of allegiance. It appears in what is the spirit of the west. But if you look at documents, if you look at pools, where do you see the analysis that a rule has on liberty . The way we write rules assumes that human beings are solely economic beings and doesnt look at liberty. And id say in part thats because looking at liberty is very difficult because it requires that we have discussions about the nature of liberty, about selfgovernance, about liberty compared to the quality and safety and accountability and prosperity. In those qualitative judgments are so much harder than quantitative judgments, but they are so important and so what i like to say is that as governors, we do this work all the time. You look at rules and you look at costbenefit analysis and at a more sort of quiet, subtle level, we think about liberty and you evaluate whether rules are worthwhile. And one state issue that is important example of having a High Economic cost, of having a substantial impact on liberty and while some times necessary, is often not is the debate that is taking place over occupational licenses. So i want to talk about occupational licensing in this context. In 1950, less than one in 20 americans required a license to work. Today, more than one in four americans, almost one in three americans need in essence a permission slip to do something pretty darn simple, to just go to work and to earn a paycheck for themselves and their families. There are measurable costs associated with this license. So an economist with the Federal Reserve bank of minneapolis and university of minnesota did a study. And he estimated that consumers pay an additional 200 billion year and that the economy loses 3 million jobs every year because of occupational licenses. Brookings has done a study. Brookings estimates that the impact is higher. So we can talk about whether its 200 billion, whether its 300 billion, whether its 3 million jobs, whether its 4 million jobs but the costs are real and the costs are significant. There are people willing to work. But they cant work cause they might have moved from one state to another and they do not have the right license. So let me talk about the three ways that licensing infringes on liberty. One, a barrier to john entry, a barrier to job mobility and three, a barrier to job utilizing technology. Let me take each of those in turn. The institute of justice recently performed an indepth study of the requirements for 102 occupational licenses in the United States. In fact, there are now more than 1100 professions that require a license but they just took 102 of them. The average cost of a license is almost 300. It requires at least one exam and nearly a year of education. So in one state represented here, to be an optician, to work at a lenscrafters, you need 1000 hours of education. In another state represented here, you need zero hours of education. Studies have been done, our eyeglasses better fitted in one state than the other state . And no difference in eyeglass bidding has been found so heres the question. Is that 1000 hours about health and safety or is that about a barrier to entry . And especially for americans looking for mid skills jobs, 1000 hours of education is a real barrier to paying hundreds of dollars for a license is a real barrier. Secondly, barrier to mobility. Excessive licensing impedes the liberty of jobseekers by making it difficult to transfer skills from one state to another. Military families in particular the challenge of moving much more often than other americans, but this issue is notlimited to military families alone. I have met with military families on several occasions and this is one of the most potential issues they face. Every time a military family moves , the spouse faces a very difficult question. Break apart the family unit or give up your career. I met with one spouse who is an attorney. Where she was told she might be able to get a job at the grocery store. Ive met with spouses that are teachers that have to start at the bottom of the pay scale each and every time and i met with spouses that have just given up looking for work , because they figure i cant get a license in the other state. And again, this is not limited to military families. When a family moves for a job, they face the same issue. When a family thinks should i just take up and move, the economy is booming in that state, the jobsarent necessarily here. They face that issue. We all think that geographic mobility is higher today than it once was. In fact, the data tells me the exact opposite. That families are not moving and i would argue that one of the reasons that they dont move is that the regulatory state makes it difficult because if you dont know if you can get a job, you worked hard to have your profession. Youve worked hard for your license and if you have to start all over again, your family unit is going to have a discussion before you move. Third, id say that it changes the liberty particularly with respect to exercising professions and work online. So consider the example of medicine. Allowing medical professionals to monitor their patients using modern technology is a good thing. However, one state recently amended its laws to require facetoface consultations or telemedicine providers in an attempt to bar Telemedicine Services from serving patients and doctors offices. Heres the question. Many of the state represented here have potentially rural areas. To confront the challenge of rural hospitals that are closing down. Do we really want to require only facetoface consultations or do we want to say that where medical judgment deems it appropriate, telemedicine 80 a partial solution. Two rural hospitals closing down, to the difficulty of getting healthcare to rural areas. So my point is this. Some regulations are necessary. Obviously, when youre talking about medicine, health and safety isimportant and its important to have licensing requirements. But 1100 professions, i recently read that one state not represented here now requires a license of one adoption. Kendall became concerned because technology now allows for individuals in this group to in an air bmv setting, perhaps known that you are willing to dog sit in a respect for the weekend. And so this one city now requires a license to dog sit. So as i understand it, you dont need a license to babysit, but you do need a license to dog sit. Enough said. So again, occupational licensing is certainly sometimes important but if licenses are unnecessary, eliminate them. If they are needed, streamlined and and if they are honored by one state, please for the sake of those 3 million or 4 million individuals, that have given up practicing their profession, if they are honored by one state, i would argue this is a Great Association and a great group of people to work together, because in the west, the governors have a tradition of working together. Consider monitoring them with reciprocity in your home state though i appreciate the opportunity to be here, to deliver this message and let me say in closing, rapping back to where i started, governor du gard and the western governors done so much on the apprenticeship front, on the workforce front and im honored and im excitedto work with all of you. Our Unemployment Rate nationally is 4. 1 percent, yet we have 6. 1 million open jobs. American job creators want to hire an american jobseekers want to work and the largest challenge that we face is connecting those job creators and the 6. 1 million open jobs with the jobseekers. Thank you for the opportunity to be here. [applause] mister secretary, you have time for some questions . Any questions from any of the governors . John. I just add, a lot of what governor du gard and as someone whos been working around the Apprenticeship Program, she needs to pull us back towards a skillsbased discussion i think is the ultimate, that the destination so we went through i think 25,500 rules and regulations and included in that was a lot of licensing and we were able to get at least for the military folks when they move in to the state of colorado, we have a large military facilities, theirspouses are automatically , they get to come and go to work immediately. When we went through that, there was a tremendous resistance again iv status quo forces and again, you only need one public, someone who suffered some consequence as a result, someone been poorly trained to get a couple newspaper articles but you know, some of the large parts of this is looking at how many positions do we have that we need College Degrees for . And i think what dennis, what weve all been working towards, weve begun doing that in the state of colorado and trying to look through why are we requiring College Degrees for these jobs and how many of them really are a function of what they learned in college or some level of training and skills we want to make sure that they have acclimated. That might be another place to emphasize this systemic, i guess youd call it the acceleration of connecting people with their ski