Articles

One thing the White House's report on occupational licensing laws unfortunately left out completely is Competitor's Veto laws: laws that forbid people from entering a business not because they are unskilled or unqualified, but solely and explicitly because existing businesses don't want competition. While other kinds of occupational licensing laws ...

Sad news from Carson City today, where Gov. Brian Sandoval has chosen to keep in place the nation's most anti-competitive licensing law. This morning, Sandoval announced his veto of SB 183, a bill that would have opened the market for entrepreneurs to freely compete for jobs running moving companies, or taxi or limo companies. The state's current l ...

Last week I testified to the Nevada Senate Committee on Transportation about the state's Competitor's Veto laws in the transportation industry.  The way these laws work is that when an applicant files a license for a limousine, taxi, or moving company, existing businesses have the right to protest that application.  Existing firms can protest sim ...

The Sacramento Bee's Dale Kasler has an in-depth article about our latest Competitor's Veto lawsuit, challenging Nevada's laws that bar people from starting moving businesses, limo companies, or taxi businesses, if they would compete with existing companies. As he points out, Nevada has tried hard to persuade California business owners to cross the ...

This morning, PLF is announcing its new nationwide campaign against "Certificate of Convenience and Necessity" laws. These are licensing requirements that apply to taxi and limo companies, moving companies, ambulances, even car dealerships and hospitals. We call these laws "Competitor's Veto" laws because they allow existing businesses to veto the ...

The Missoulian today carries my article about our economic liberty lawsuit on behalf of Montana businesswoman Tracie Pabst: Pabst owns Big Sky Shuttle, a transportation company that operates in Texas and New Mexico – but not Montana. She would like to offer taxi service in her hometown of Big Sky, and with nearly a decade of experience, without ...

Earlier this year, a federal court in Kentucky struck down that state's "Competitor's Veto," a law which allowed the state's existing moving companies to block any new moving company from starting up. We represented Raleigh Bruner, owner of Wildcat Moving, who was astonished to discover that his state—like about half of the states—required anyo ...

The road to economic freedom is a little bit wider today, thanks to a decision by Illinois Circuit Judge Rebecca Foley who last week* struck down the city of Bloomington's anticompetitive licensing law for taxicabs. Agreeing with our friend of the court brief, Judge Foley ruled that the city ordinance—which bars anyone from entering the taxi busi ...

Bloomberg Businessweek's Patrick Clark has an excellent story about Kentucky's anti-competitive licensing rules for moving companies. Here's an excerpt: In August, Marty Vaughn tried to open a College Hunks Moving franchise in Lexington, KY. She learned state law first required her to obtain something called a Certificate of Public Convenience and ...