You don’t need a medical degree to doctor your resume. But if you did, you could probably get one on the Internet.

In fact, if you go to the Stateline.org Web site to find out what legislatures such as Washington’s are doing to crack down on so-called diploma mills, you can see an ad that boasts: “Fast Diploma in 7 days.”

Click on the link and you’ll find out: “No Need to Take Admission Exams, No Need To Study, Receive a College Degree for What You Already Know!”

There’s big money to be made in peddling bogus educational credentials, and significant harm to be done, and state governments are wisely trying to curb it. This week in Olympia, a bill that would make it a felony to sell or use a phony diploma passed out of the Senate Committee on Early Learning, K-12 and Higher Education a day ahead of the cutoff date for that action.

The measure’s sponsor, Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, sees it as the state’s duty to protect the integrity of college degrees that are honestly earned by citizens who invest the money and intellectual effort in getting an education. And his measure recognizes that the diploma mill operators aren’t the only culprits in the picture.

People who bite on the tantalizing offer take an effortless shortcut to the appearance of learning. By doing so, they not only misrepresent their qualifications to the disadvantage of job rivals who did it the honest way, they cheat employers who think they are dealing with higher caliber workers. In many cases, the damage goes even further, jeopardizing customers of businesses who entrust demanding tasks to unqualified workers.

Oddly, even though some public employees can enhance their salaries with higher degrees, states haven’t previously outlawed the practice. Last year, after the Evergreen Freedom Foundation disclosed that some teachers in Washington had climbed the pay scale with the help of meaningless diplomas, the Legislature took steps to prohibit that narrow activity.

More work needs to be done. That’s especially relevant in Spokane where federal agents last fall brought indictments against eight people whom they accused of wire and mail fraud for selling thousands of degrees out of bases in this area. Millions of dollars passed hands, and one expert in the field identified Spokane as a particular hotbed for diploma mills.

A state official in Indiana reported in August 2004 that workers who were about to be laid off at an auto plant in his state have spent at least $42,000 in educational retraining money by buying worthless advanced degrees from a Spokane provider.

Spokane is not the only problem area, of course. Three years ago, Congress directed the General Accounting Office to find out how bad the problem is in federal ranks. Personnel as high-ranking as an undersecretary of defense have been found to hold questionable diplomas.

In the Spokane operation, officials say, a substantial number of the degrees sold went to buyers in foreign countries, mostly Saudi Arabia. Because a higher degree improves a person’s chances of being allowed into the United States, homeland security issues are at stake as well.

The Legislature is smart to take the two-pronged approach reflected in Schoesler’s measure. Both the sellers and the users are trying to enrich themselves at society’s expense. Go after both of them.