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Professional Certification Coalition: Positive Progress Through Partnership and Strategy

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The Professional Certification Coalition (PCC) is a nonprofit association formed to address legislation that affects professional certification programs, those who hold private certification credentials, and the many constituencies that rely on professional certification. The PCC’s organizational members include non-governmental professional certification organizations, professional societies and service providers. The PCC’s members reflect a wide spectrum of professions, including health care, engineering, financial services, and information technology, among many others. Our founding organizations – the American Society of Association Executives (the leading organization for association management) and the Institute for Credentialing Excellence (the leading developer of accreditation standards for professional certification programs) – govern the PCC.

BOC has been a member of PCC since August 2018 to help address efforts to enact state legislation that would undermine the activities or recognition of certifications developed or offered by non-governmental, private certification organizations. The PCC monitors state and federal legislative and regulatory activity affecting professional certification on an ongoing basis.

The PCC provides its members with a State Legislative WatchList that is updated on a regular basis and includes a thorough bill summary. Separate from the watchlist, PCC has also started to monitor reciprocity bills being considered. PCC continues to be engaged in positive federal legislation that may benefit BOC credential holders.

PCC’s current efforts include state legislation monitoring, as well as promotion of federal legislation focused on two pending bills: 1) Freedom to Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act and 2) Credentialing, Education, Resources, and Training (CERT) Act and Rebuild Skills Act. PCC hosted a Virtual Capital Hill “Fly-In” on Oct. 6, 2021 to advocate for these federal bills. BOC participated in the virtual “fly-in” and met with staff from two Senator’s offices and a Congressman’s office.

During the 2020-2021 fiscal year, PCC has made positive progress on several initiatives. One such effort including representatives of PCC meeting with staff of the House Education and Labor Committee, Senate HELP Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee about introduced and proposed legislation to increase opportunities for Americans to earn professional certifications. In addition, PCC proposed and began advocacy efforts in support of a federal bill to provide Career Rebuilding scholarships for expenses to train for or obtain a certification. Eligible individuals include those displaced from their jobs, became underemployed due to the pandemic or recent military servicemembers and their spouses. The scholarships would be administered by approved certification and training program through a payroll tax credit. Details about other accomplishments can be found here.

In addition, the organization facilitates continuous outreach to external stakeholders, including:

  • NCSL/NGA/CSG multistate licensing consortium
  • ACLU
  • Clean Slate Initiative
  • Other stakeholders in criminal just reform/occupational licensing reform

Find out more at About PCC.

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