Rant: State just jacked up painting cert renewal fees, screwing small shops

Man, the state board doubled the fees for our painting contractor certification renewal this year, and now they want proof of 16 hours of CE credits on lead safety and VOC regs or else no license. I run a small crew doing mostly interior jobs with Benjamin Moore Aura, and this BS is eating into our margins just to keep the doors open. Saw a similar rant in the Painting Contractors Facebook group last week where guys were talking about switching states. Watched that Idaho Painter video on his YouTube about navigating certs, but he didn't cover the fee hikes. Anyone else dealing with this crap? How do you budget for these surprises without passing it all to clients? Feels like we're getting nickel and dimed while the big outfits laugh it off.