Free the market!—Missouri considers repealing law challenged in PLF’s economic liberty case

February 18, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Timothy Sandefur

Last year, I filed a lawsuit on behalf of Michael Munie, owner of the St. Louis company ABC Quality Movers, Inc., to challenge the constitutionality of a licensing law that requires new moving companies to basically get permission from existing moving businesses before they’re allowed to open their doors.

The government has asked the court to throw that case out, and we’re waiting for the judge to decide on that motion, but in the meantime, the state legislature has taken up a pair of bills to repeal this Competitor’s Veto law. (You’ll remember that in 2009, the state of Oregon repealed a virtually identical law in response to a PLF lawsuit on behalf of business owner Adam Sweet.) The Missouri bills are SB-58 and HB-430.

I’ve now been asked to testify to the Missouri House Transportation Committee about the legislation, at a hearing on Tuesday. So I’m packing some warm coats for a trip to St. Louis first thing next week.

It’s sad that laws like those in Oregon or Missouri have stifled competition and prevented entrepreneurs from earning an honest living for such a long time. But it’s very gratifying to see that lawmakers are taking economic liberty and opportunity seriously. In a time of economic struggle, the last thing government needs to be doing is interfering with the right of entrepreneurs to earn an honest living.