It wasn’t too long after state Secretary of Labor Bryan Slater took office that state Sen. Travis Hackworth shared a story about his long drive to Charleston, West Virginia, and then to Tennessee so he could take tests to be licensed to build homes across the state line from his home base in Tazewell County.
He’s a master electrician, so the tests — like the one in Virginia he passed years ago — are all about knowing the international codes and standards that make sure contractors know how to work and install wiring and electrical appliances safely.
Slater, working with Hackworth, state Sen. Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover, and Del. Will Morefield, R-Tazewell, found the answer was legislation that says people with one of the 85 occupational licenses issued in other states can practice in Virginia, as long as there aren’t pending complaints or investigations back home.
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It’s a key element in twin priorities for Gov. Glenn Youngkin — tackling Virginia tight labor market by helping fill some 300,000 empty job slots, and streamlining state regulations. It was the first bill out of the 2023 General Assembly session Youngkin signed into law.
“This is the first official signing because this bill will change lives,” Youngkin said Friday, before heading through one of the brightly-painted doorways at Dorothy Reid’s Refuge for Men barber shop on West Main Street in Richmond for a trim.
Youngkin’s been pushing to streamline regulations since he got into office in January 2022.
A recent move opened the door for mental health counselors licensed in other states to practice here, to help tackle a third Youngkin priority: improving access to mental health services, hit hard by vacancies.
In June, he set up a new operation in the governor’s office with the assignment to cut regulation requirements by 25% and set up rules and processes to see if proposed regulations are necessary, slash the time it takes to review them and make sure there’s a review when it is time to decide whether or not to renew a regulation
An early move cut the education needed to get a cosmetology license from 1,500 hours over nearly a year and at a cost of more than $16,000 to 1,000 hours.
The new law — called universal licensing — passed unanimously, but it had a rough start.
McDougle said he, Hackworth and Morefield brought together groups with concerns, ranging from licensed occupations to labor unions to businesses, to work through each one’s concerns.
A key move was language saying licensees couldn’t simply come to Virginia to dodge problems back home, he said.
The new law also clarifies what people who come from states that don’t require the same kind of licenses Virginia need to do: basically, if they’ve been working for three years, and can pass a Virginia exam, and aren’t in trouble back home, they can get a license here.
This streamlines the wide variety of requirements of the various boards within the state Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, which can sometimes require years of classroom or supervised work by a licensee, said director Demetrios Melis.
The legislation also requires some new arrivals — such as individuals wanting to work as real estate brokers or agents — be tested on specific Virginia laws that apply to their work.
Reid said she missed a chance to bring in a skilled barber from Maryland because of the hassle of getting a license to cut hair here. As an Army veteran she said she felt the new law would help military spouses find work when a new assignment brings them to one of Virginia’s many military posts.
In May 1953, students at the York County Training School for Negroes had to attend class in school buses after a fire that week destroyed the school’s 11-room main building near Yorktown. Five classes were held on buses and three in small buildings that were saved from the flames.
- times-dispatch
In November 1982, a crowd filled Regency Square mall for the first day of Sunday store openings in Henrico County. Before the Sunday closing law, or so-called blue law, was formally repealed by the Board of Supervisors, Henrico residents — who in a referendum that month voted in favor of repeal — had to travel to surrounding localities to shop on a Sunday.
- times-dispatch
In March 1959, visitors at the Richmond Boat Show inspected a new cruiser, a sort of floating camper, during the five-day event at the State Fairgrounds in Henrico County. It was considered to be the first strictly marine show to be held in Richmond.
- TIMES-DISPATCH
In August 1971, members of Camp Willow Run gathered outside their dormitories, which were former train boxcars. The railroad-themed camp, on a Lake Gaston peninsula in Littleton, N.C., is still run by Youth Camps for Christ Inc. The dining hall, modeled after an 1890 train depot and built from plans furnished by the Southern Railway Co., was the focal point of activities.
- TIMES-DISPATCH
In July 1963, John Adam, director of talking books for the Royal National Institute for the Blind in London, visited Richmond and showed Virginia Library for the Blind employee Mrs. Richard V. Carter a new cassette system for recording and reproducing audio tapes of books. Using a federal grant and tapping into British expertise, the Virginia library was testing the system, whose cassettes offered more capacity and lasted longer than old discs used by blind patrons.
- Times-Dispatch
This September 1953 image shows the canal locks in downtown Richmond between 14th and Pear streets. After their installation and later refurbishment in the mid-19th century, the locks increased boat traffic and allowed for easier transport of goods to and from the city.
- Times-Dispatch
In September 1935, a small group of men, part of a larger army of workers and 70 trucks, reinforced dikes with sandbags to protect the 5-mile area controlled by Richmond’s Shockoe Creek Pumping Station from flooding caused by a severe storm.
- Times-Dispatch
In July 1977, Christine Bunce, a student at Manchester High School in Chesterfield County, worked in the Chippenham Hospital gift shop in Richmond as a volunteer. The nickname “candy striper” came from the red-and-white striped aprons worn traditionally by volunteers.
- Times-Dispatch
In April 1976, men tended to the roasting planks at the 28th annualshad planking in Wakefield, an event in Sussex County that lured politicians, reporters, campaign workers and others to kick off the electoral season. Sponsored by the Wakefield Ruritan Club, the event historically was a function of the state’s Democrats, but it evolved into a bipartisan tradition.
- TIMES-DISPATCH
In October 1941, babies slept in the nursery at Brookfield, located on West Broad Street in Henrico County. The home for unwed mothers was the successor to Spring Street Home in Richmond’s Oregon Hill area, which was established in 1874 by the Magdalen Association to help single women and their children.
- Times-dispatch
In April 1979, the St. Mary’s Hospital Orchestra rehearsed in the hospital auditorium in Henrico County. The orchestra, which formed in 1966 and initially consisted of staff doctors and hospital employees, performed several public concerts a year at the hospital.
- Times-dispatch
In May 1950, motorcyclists raced in the 10-Mile National Motorcycle Championship at the Atlantic Rural Exposition grounds in Henrico County. The winner was “Little Joe” Weatherly of Norfolk, who later turned to stock car racing and won NASCAR titles in the 1960s before being killed in a race accident in Riverside, Calif., in 1964.
- Times-Dispatch
In July 1954, Kitty Liles performed with her band. Liles had played the drums for years, starting when she was a student at Varina High School in the 1940s. In 1954, Liles was using money from her gigs around Richmond to pay for her pursuit of a social work degree at Richmond Professional Institute.
- times-dispatch
In September 1948, Richmond actress, singer and national radio show host Patsy Garrett greeted a friend downtown during her visit here. Garrett was known for her time on Fred Waring’s “Pleasure Time” radio show in the 1940s and for her recurring film and television roles in “Nanny and the Professor,” “Room 222” and the “Benji” movie series.
- Times-Dispatch
In September 1985, NASCAR Cup driver Kyle Petty inspected his wrecked Ford Thunderbird after a practice session at the half-mile Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway during the Wrangler 400. Petty’s car hit Dale Earnhardt’s, with Petty getting the worst of it.
- 1985, Times-Dispatch
In April 1968, David Long manned the bar at an exhibit at a Virginia Restaurant Association convention, and Barbara Ann Brigel took a spot along the brass rail. That year, the General Assembly allowed liquor by the drink to become a local option in Virginia.
- Times-dispatch
In June 1941, Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death” speech was re-enacted at St. John’s Episcopal Church on Church Hill in Richmond as part of its bicentennial celebration. Construction of the church, built on land donated by city founder William Byrd II, was completed in June 1741.
- times-dispatch
In May 1942, actress-singers Dorothy Lamour (center), Patsy Garrett (at left) and actor Bert Lytell (at right) visited Richmond as part of a rally to stimulate sales of war bonds and stamps. They stood under a “Welcome to Richmond” sign and were flanked by Malcolm Bridges (left), the executive secretary of the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, and Ship Ahoy Girls Jetsy Parker and Dorothy Schoemer. The rally drew more than 5,000 people.
- Times-Dispatch
This 1966 image of a quiet night on Franklin Street in downtown Richmond was captured by Times-Dispatch photographer David Harvey, who became renowned for his National Geographic magazine work and has received national awards. His photographs have been exhibited nationwide, including at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts locally.
- Times-Dispatch
In June 1977, John Stevens and his long-eared assistant performed a magic trick. Known as Nabis the Magician, Stevens was among the Richmonders in the International Brotherhood of Magicians. The local chapter had 25 members who met regularly to discuss their craft.
- times-dispatch
In January 1970, Virginia Gov. Mills E. Godwin Jr. received his final salute from state police as he and his wife, Katherine, left the Executive Mansion in Richmond en route to the inauguration of A. Linwood Holton Jr. Godwin, then a Democrat, returned as governor four years later as a Republican.
- Times-dispatch
In June 1968, Toru Yanagida (left) and Ken Seguchi posed at Hillcrest Dairy in Crewe, in Nottoway County. They were learning American farming techniques from the dairy farm’s owners, Mr. and Mrs. Victor Johnson, who were their sponsors. Seguchi was a dairy farmer from Gifu, Japan, and Yanagida was a student in a college horticulture program in Hokkaido.
- TIMES-DISPATCH
In May 1973, local Scouts assembled their tents amid exhibits at the daylong Scout-O-Rama at the State Fairgrounds in Henrico County. In addition to traditional skills of woodcraft, wilderness survival, camping and cooking, the event highlighted Scouting’s growing attention to archaeology, seamanship, aviation, metal detection, TV and space technology, among other topics. More than 2,000 Cub and Boy Scouts attended the event that year.
- TIMES-DISPATCH
In June 1977, a crowd lined up for drinks and barbecue chicken at the Virginia Chicken Festival in Crewe, a town in Nottoway County southwest of Richmond. Held on the pavilion grounds of the Southside Electric Cooperative, the annual affair was sponsored by the Burkeville Ruritan Club and the Crewe Kiwanis Club. It attracted state and local politicians — including gubernatorial nominees John Dalton and Henry Howell — among the more than 3,500 attendees that year.
- times-dispatch
In February 1973, prisoners at the Virginia State Penitentiary made and stacked license plates. The pen was along Spring Street at Second Street in downtown Richmond. A print shop, metal shop, textile plant, leather shop and woodworking area offered vocational training to prisoners. Today the site is largely occupied by Afton Chemical Corp., a unit of NewMarket Corp.
- TIMES-DISPATCH
In November 1951, workers constructed a new lane on Monument Avenue in Henrico County. The truck was occupying what used to be the front yard of a house in the 6500 block. The road was being widened for divided lane traffic in the block between Bevridge Road and Roxbury Road.
- Times-Dispatch
29 photos from the Times-Dispatch archives
In May 1953, students at the York County Training School for Negroes had to attend class in school buses after a fire that week destroyed the school’s 11-room main building near Yorktown. Five classes were held on buses and three in small buildings that were saved from the flames.
- times-dispatch
In November 1982, a crowd filled Regency Square mall for the first day of Sunday store openings in Henrico County. Before the Sunday closing law, or so-called blue law, was formally repealed by the Board of Supervisors, Henrico residents — who in a referendum that month voted in favor of repeal — had to travel to surrounding localities to shop on a Sunday.
- times-dispatch
In March 1959, visitors at the Richmond Boat Show inspected a new cruiser, a sort of floating camper, during the five-day event at the State Fairgrounds in Henrico County. It was considered to be the first strictly marine show to be held in Richmond.
- TIMES-DISPATCH
In August 1971, members of Camp Willow Run gathered outside their dormitories, which were former train boxcars. The railroad-themed camp, on a Lake Gaston peninsula in Littleton, N.C., is still run by Youth Camps for Christ Inc. The dining hall, modeled after an 1890 train depot and built from plans furnished by the Southern Railway Co., was the focal point of activities.
- TIMES-DISPATCH
In July 1963, John Adam, director of talking books for the Royal National Institute for the Blind in London, visited Richmond and showed Virginia Library for the Blind employee Mrs. Richard V. Carter a new cassette system for recording and reproducing audio tapes of books. Using a federal grant and tapping into British expertise, the Virginia library was testing the system, whose cassettes offered more capacity and lasted longer than old discs used by blind patrons.
- Times-Dispatch
This September 1953 image shows the canal locks in downtown Richmond between 14th and Pear streets. After their installation and later refurbishment in the mid-19th century, the locks increased boat traffic and allowed for easier transport of goods to and from the city.
- Times-Dispatch
In September 1935, a small group of men, part of a larger army of workers and 70 trucks, reinforced dikes with sandbags to protect the 5-mile area controlled by Richmond’s Shockoe Creek Pumping Station from flooding caused by a severe storm.
- Times-Dispatch
In July 1977, Christine Bunce, a student at Manchester High School in Chesterfield County, worked in the Chippenham Hospital gift shop in Richmond as a volunteer. The nickname “candy striper” came from the red-and-white striped aprons worn traditionally by volunteers.
- Times-Dispatch
In April 1976, men tended to the roasting planks at the 28th annualshad planking in Wakefield, an event in Sussex County that lured politicians, reporters, campaign workers and others to kick off the electoral season. Sponsored by the Wakefield Ruritan Club, the event historically was a function of the state’s Democrats, but it evolved into a bipartisan tradition.
- TIMES-DISPATCH
In October 1941, babies slept in the nursery at Brookfield, located on West Broad Street in Henrico County. The home for unwed mothers was the successor to Spring Street Home in Richmond’s Oregon Hill area, which was established in 1874 by the Magdalen Association to help single women and their children.
- Times-dispatch
In April 1979, the St. Mary’s Hospital Orchestra rehearsed in the hospital auditorium in Henrico County. The orchestra, which formed in 1966 and initially consisted of staff doctors and hospital employees, performed several public concerts a year at the hospital.
- Times-dispatch
In May 1950, motorcyclists raced in the 10-Mile National Motorcycle Championship at the Atlantic Rural Exposition grounds in Henrico County. The winner was “Little Joe” Weatherly of Norfolk, who later turned to stock car racing and won NASCAR titles in the 1960s before being killed in a race accident in Riverside, Calif., in 1964.
- Times-Dispatch
In July 1954, Kitty Liles performed with her band. Liles had played the drums for years, starting when she was a student at Varina High School in the 1940s. In 1954, Liles was using money from her gigs around Richmond to pay for her pursuit of a social work degree at Richmond Professional Institute.
- times-dispatch
In September 1948, Richmond actress, singer and national radio show host Patsy Garrett greeted a friend downtown during her visit here. Garrett was known for her time on Fred Waring’s “Pleasure Time” radio show in the 1940s and for her recurring film and television roles in “Nanny and the Professor,” “Room 222” and the “Benji” movie series.
- Times-Dispatch
In September 1985, NASCAR Cup driver Kyle Petty inspected his wrecked Ford Thunderbird after a practice session at the half-mile Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway during the Wrangler 400. Petty’s car hit Dale Earnhardt’s, with Petty getting the worst of it.
- 1985, Times-Dispatch
In March 1969, balmy weather drew a large crowd to Monroe Park in downtown Richmond. A small band joined the gathering, serenading visitors as spring arrived.
- Bob Brown
In April 1968, David Long manned the bar at an exhibit at a Virginia Restaurant Association convention, and Barbara Ann Brigel took a spot along the brass rail. That year, the General Assembly allowed liquor by the drink to become a local option in Virginia.
- Times-dispatch
In June 1941, Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death” speech was re-enacted at St. John’s Episcopal Church on Church Hill in Richmond as part of its bicentennial celebration. Construction of the church, built on land donated by city founder William Byrd II, was completed in June 1741.
- times-dispatch
In July 1979, two boys walked along the rocks in the James River near the Lee Bridge in Richmond.
- times-dispatch
In May 1942, actress-singers Dorothy Lamour (center), Patsy Garrett (at left) and actor Bert Lytell (at right) visited Richmond as part of a rally to stimulate sales of war bonds and stamps. They stood under a “Welcome to Richmond” sign and were flanked by Malcolm Bridges (left), the executive secretary of the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, and Ship Ahoy Girls Jetsy Parker and Dorothy Schoemer. The rally drew more than 5,000 people.
- Times-Dispatch
This 1966 image of a quiet night on Franklin Street in downtown Richmond was captured by Times-Dispatch photographer David Harvey, who became renowned for his National Geographic magazine work and has received national awards. His photographs have been exhibited nationwide, including at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts locally.
- Times-Dispatch
In June 1977, John Stevens and his long-eared assistant performed a magic trick. Known as Nabis the Magician, Stevens was among the Richmonders in the International Brotherhood of Magicians. The local chapter had 25 members who met regularly to discuss their craft.
- times-dispatch
In January 1970, Virginia Gov. Mills E. Godwin Jr. received his final salute from state police as he and his wife, Katherine, left the Executive Mansion in Richmond en route to the inauguration of A. Linwood Holton Jr. Godwin, then a Democrat, returned as governor four years later as a Republican.
- Times-dispatch
In July 1961, two men fished for bluegills in Chickahominy Lake, a large water-supply reservoir along the New Kent-Charles City county line.
- Times-dispatch
In June 1968, Toru Yanagida (left) and Ken Seguchi posed at Hillcrest Dairy in Crewe, in Nottoway County. They were learning American farming techniques from the dairy farm’s owners, Mr. and Mrs. Victor Johnson, who were their sponsors. Seguchi was a dairy farmer from Gifu, Japan, and Yanagida was a student in a college horticulture program in Hokkaido.
- TIMES-DISPATCH
In May 1973, local Scouts assembled their tents amid exhibits at the daylong Scout-O-Rama at the State Fairgrounds in Henrico County. In addition to traditional skills of woodcraft, wilderness survival, camping and cooking, the event highlighted Scouting’s growing attention to archaeology, seamanship, aviation, metal detection, TV and space technology, among other topics. More than 2,000 Cub and Boy Scouts attended the event that year.
- TIMES-DISPATCH
In June 1977, a crowd lined up for drinks and barbecue chicken at the Virginia Chicken Festival in Crewe, a town in Nottoway County southwest of Richmond. Held on the pavilion grounds of the Southside Electric Cooperative, the annual affair was sponsored by the Burkeville Ruritan Club and the Crewe Kiwanis Club. It attracted state and local politicians — including gubernatorial nominees John Dalton and Henry Howell — among the more than 3,500 attendees that year.
- times-dispatch
In February 1973, prisoners at the Virginia State Penitentiary made and stacked license plates. The pen was along Spring Street at Second Street in downtown Richmond. A print shop, metal shop, textile plant, leather shop and woodworking area offered vocational training to prisoners. Today the site is largely occupied by Afton Chemical Corp., a unit of NewMarket Corp.
- TIMES-DISPATCH
In November 1951, workers constructed a new lane on Monument Avenue in Henrico County. The truck was occupying what used to be the front yard of a house in the 6500 block. The road was being widened for divided lane traffic in the block between Bevridge Road and Roxbury Road.
- Times-Dispatch
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