The U.S. military trains medics and tasks them to attend those shot, bombed or blown up, sometimes including civilian victims. This is about the most rigorous duty any medic could experience but veterans have a hard time applying their skills in civilian life. As Foon Rhee notes in the Sacramento Bee, the California legislature took five years to open the way for military medics to get professional credit for their experience. This, says Rhee, was a “disgrace,” but returning vets are not the only ones who face obstacles from the state.

As we noted, according to the state’s Little Hoover Commission, one out of every five Californians must receive permission to work, down from one in 20 sixty years ago. For example, manicurists must complete 400 hours of classwork, then take written and practical exams offered only in the cities of Fairfield and Glendale. The licensing board assigns the dates and if candidates can’t make it that day, their candidacy is terminated, they lose their application fee and they must begin the application process all over again.

These boards contribute nothing to productivity but succeed in keeping government employees in highly paid useless jobs. In 1997, the legislature eliminated the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology but Senator Richard Polanco brought it back in 2002. This utterly worthless body now boasts 94 employees and a budget of more than $17 million.

Veterans should not be surprised if California reverses the measure helping military medics to apply their skills. The legislature also took its time offering in-state college tuition to active duty military, though they had no problem granting that break to non-citizens who had entered the country illegally and, unlike the veterans, never served the nation in any capacity. Veterans should not be surprised if California reverses itself on the tuition issue as well. After all, governor Jerry Brown once proclaimed himself a “born-again tax cutter” and now supports some of the highest taxes in the nation. Likewise, the governor once strove to eliminate redevelopment agencies but has now brought those back as well.