A similar issue can be found in occupational licensure laws. Carve outs for everyone, and they keep coming. There is a serious effort underway to require a license for florists, interior designers, and hair braiders, and the exemptions and carve outs have gotten so bad that it’s hard to justify these licenses as beneficial to protect the public.
They exempt larger licensed professions. For example, you can’t get a license requirement for anything in healthcare without exempting doctors, nurses, and other licensed professions. The carve outs protect other license holders, perpetuating the myth that only a license holding person is qualified. Thus it waters down to a license and market exclusivity for one specific group, but it exempts the rest of the licensed establishment so that the effect is simply market protectionism.
