Basically, the bill will make it easier for service members and their spouses to use their professional licenses from other states.
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The idea is to make Ohio more friendly and welcoming to military families, something the DeWine administration has identified as a priority.
There are some 1,300 Ohio military spouses who are employed in an occupation that requires some form of licensure or certification, State Rep. Jim Butler, R-Oakwood, has told the Dayton Daily News. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the largest single-site employer in Ohio, employs more than 30,000 people.
The Ohio House of Representatives voting 92 to 0 in October to approve the bill.
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Brianna McKinnon thought she'd easily get a teaching job in the Dayton area in 2017 when her husband was transferred to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, but she told the Dayton Daily News she was surprised when she found that a state law at the time prevented her from doing so.
To transfer her teaching license from Washington state, McKinnon needed to take a class at a local university and then pass three state tests that cost $150 each, she told this news outlet last year.
“I was really shocked,” McKinnon said. “I had heard that there were going to be hoops that I needed to jump through, but I had no idea… I was devastated I just planned on not teaching.”
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