Jonathan, a young man in his early 30s, recently got a part-time teaching position at a Bay Area after-school program. It was a great fit, and when a full-time job opened up, the school offered it to him.

What neither he nor the school realized, however, was that a six-year-old conviction for a minor marijuana-related offense would make it impossible for him to gain the required certification for the job. Despite his training, proven qualifications and support from the school, his application for certification was denied.

Jonathan is one of thousands of Californians who, every year, are denied access to the careers they are trained for because of the unchecked power of the state’s almost 50 occupational licensing boards that control entry to more than 200 professions.

From barbers to tree-trimmers, landscape workers, farm labor contractors, manicurists, door repair contractors, locksmiths and dietetic technicians, California’s licensing boards control entry to all these professions — and demonstrate a pattern and practice of denying opportunity to thousands of people like Jonathan, who, because of mistakes in their past, are unable to enter the workforce and pursue meaningful careers.

State Ban the Box and Fair Chance Hiring laws and federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidance for public and private employers provide strong protections for workers with records in California, and promote second-chance opportunities.

However, these laws do not apply to licensing boards because of legal technicalities. Most employers can only see convictions dating back no more than seven years, cannot see expunged convictions, cannot have blanket bans on people with records, and must consider the nexus between the crime and the job, time passed, evidence of rehabilitation and mitigating evidence. But occupational licensing boards do not have to abide by the same criteria.

Those boards control entry to over 20 percent of California’s occupations and the latitude to devise over 1,200 disqualifications for applicants with criminal records. That includes discretionary and mandatory bans for felonies, misdemeanors and lesser offenses, including child support, recreational license and motor vehicle offenses. Boards can even consider arrests not leading to a conviction, undermining the constitutional protection of “innocent until proven guilty.”

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Licensing boards were established, in theory, to keep our society safe. But the onerous barriers that keep formerly incarcerated people and people with records from accessing economic opportunity and social mobility do the exact opposite.

They create an invisible ceiling in 20 percent of California’s occupations, making it impossible for communities most impacted by incarceration, usually low-income communities and communities of color, to access economic opportunity.

These barriers severely undermine the tremendous reforms California voters have backed on the ballot and the investments we are putting into second chances, higher education and workforce development.

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Goldberg: Trump’s Supreme Court pick may need to denounce Roe. Good And this “tough on crime” approach does not increase our safety: The data on occupational licensing barriers show that states with the most burdensome occupational licensing laws had an average 9 percent increase in recidivism from 1997 to 2007, while states with the lowest licensing burdens and no provisions excluding people with records saw an average decline in recidivism by nearly 2.5 percent.

This is not a partisan issue. It is a human rights issue that should unite the right and left, who both want criminal justice reform, greater economic opportunity for people with records and to protect our constitutional right to follow our calling.

If California is going to lead this nation in criminal justice reform, it is time we reckon with the obstacles to a true second chance.

Katherine Katcher is the founder and executive director of Root & Rebound, an Oakland-based re-entry legal resource center that supports men and women, and their families, impacted by incarceration.