Licensing is a sacred cow to the PHC industry, but comes with unintended consequences.
PHC contractors in my home state of Illinois reacted as if touched by a live wire recently when legislation appeared in the state senate to require only licensed electricians to make repairs or installations of any equipment using electrical power. This would encompass furnaces, boilers, electric water heaters and other equipment traditionally within the scope of plumbing and heating firms.
People in our industry generally support the intent of the legislation, which was to establish electrical licensing, and the wording appears to have been an inadvertent miscue rather than a power play by electricians. At last report the language was being revised. Nonetheless, this incident serves as a reminder that licensing laws often bring with them a host of unintended consequences.