Yes.  There are a handful of states that require licensing, but as far as I can tell it is not really implemented or enforced very well. Most of those statutes were implemented back when abstractors produced real abstracts of title.  They really need to be overhauled to reflect today's reality of title searching.  And, I believe that it should be integrated with the states' title insurance acts.

I agree with you that "the organizational approach leaves the standards within the hands of the organization controlled by the abstractor."  However, there really is no way to get any significant participation. If you can't get substantially all abstractors to join, there will always be cheap, unqualified competition that will undermine the efforts.  The legislative solution should include a board of abstractors comprised mainly of abstractors who would monitor and oversee the licensing.  So, to some extent, abstractors would still decide on the appropriate standards.

There is also no way for the organizational approach to require clients to use member abstractors.  State licensing laws can, and should, also include changes to the title insurance acts requiring the use of only licensed abstractors for title searches that form the foundation for title insurance policies.

Best,
Robert A. Franco
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