FRANKFORT, Ky. — Being a military spouse involves bouncing around from state to state, or even to other countries.  

“Uprooting your family every two to three years is not normal,” military spouse Erin Ramey said. “It’s a little crazy because it’s a complete move, and it doesn’t get any easier.”

Ramey has been married to her husband, Drew, for 13 years, and their family is stationed in Japan right now.

She has a law degree, but with her constant travels, she ended up teaching more.  

“With a law degree, though, I saw the power of advocacy in it,” Ramey said. “One of the areas that I focus on is education law. So even to make a difference in the schools, I thought a law degree would help with that.”

Keeping her professional licenses up to date can be difficult, though.

Ramey has been lobbying as part of a group dedicated to helping military spouses called the Military Spouse JD Network (MSJDN) with that problem in the legal profession.

MSJDN President Kristen Jones said the largest hurdle to employment for military spouses is keeping up with licensing.

“At one point, I had three different law licenses in three different states, so I had to keep up with the dues for all of those states and then the continuing education credits for all those states,” Jones said. “So when you start accumulating multiple licenses within your profession, it gets really cumbersome to maintain, so your gut reaction is, 'well, when I leave a state, I’m just going to resign. I’m just going to give it up.'”

Now Kentucky is trying to be a leader by waiving professional license fees for military spouses.  

“For active-duty service members, they’re usually moving to a state and have continuity in their job,” Ramey said. “They usually have a waiver, but spouses sometimes are still moving too but have a hard time with employment.”

Lawmakers filed House Bill 251 last session, and one of the bill’s sponsors is actually Ramey’s father, state Rep. Danny Bentley, R-Russell.  

“Erin’s always been self-driven. She was one of those kids I had to tell her to go to bed and quit studying instead of to go study,” Bentley said. “So she’s always out to help other people and be the best she can be, and this is one of the parts of her being the best she can be.”

Several other lawmakers sponsored the bill, and it passed unanimously in the House but didn’t get a vote in the Senate.  

“The problem is we ran out of time because we had a short session and a lot to do,” Bentley said. “But, going through the House like that, I’m sure if we just had a little bit more time, it would’ve gone through the Senate.”

Ramey says she’s thankful for every lawmaker for supporting the last session’s effort, not just her father, and she’s encouraged that a renewed effort next year will pass and help military spouses.

“Sometimes you’re faced with a choice of 'do I stay home or do I work?' And usually the spouses — trying to help support the active-duty service member in their mission and their job everyday — and sometimes we take a back burner,” Ramey said. “And we commit to that. We’re happy to do it. But it is a challenge sometimes.”

Ultimately she’s hopeful it’ll be one less hurdle for military spouses from Kentucky who already struggle to find work.