Articles

We received an adverse ruling in our lawsuit on behalf of David Hansen, which challenged a ruling by the Oregon Board of Architects that David practiced unlicensed architecture when he created marketing drawings.  These drawings were not blueprints or plans; they were meant to help a property development company attract retailers to potential deve ...

It’s a good day for economic liberty.  Governor Justice has signed SB 174—or as Arty Vogt calls it, “Stephanie’s law,”—which repeals West Virginia’s Competitor’s Veto statute. PLF represented Arty in a lawsuit challenging West Virginia’s licensing scheme for movers, which allowed existing busin ...

On April 20th, PLF will host an event on occupational licensing reform in California.  Author Dick Carpenter will talk about his book Bottleneckers, followed by a panel discussion featuring state Senator John Moorlach, and me. Bottleneckers describes the phenomenon whereby interest groups harness government power to limit competition.  Occupation ...

This week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched an exciting new website for its recently formed Economic Liberty Task Force. Aside from signaling how serious the FTC’s Acting Chairman, Maureen Ohlhausen, is in using the commission’s resources to advocate for occupational licensing reform, the website will also serve as a valuabl ...

Those of us who oppose over-abundant occupational licensing schemes due to the burdens they impose on employment and the economy without supplying many benefits for the public, frequently note that web-based services like Yelp, and Uber and Lyft’s 5-star rating system are good examples of alternatives to licensing. As it turns out, one Washin ...

In case you missed them on PLF’s various social media sites, we had three op-eds published on a number of economic liberty topics this month in newspapers in North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Idaho. The Grand Forks Herald in North Dakota published my piece explaining why it’s time for North Dakota’s occupational license for music thera ...

Opponents of burdensome occupational licensing laws in Florida may soon have reason to celebrate. Two bills were recently filed in the Florida legislature that would bring some mild, but welcome relief to Floridians seeking to earn a living. In recent years, the difficulties faced by military spouses to receive license reciprocity when they move to ...

Supreme Court watch We are waiting for word from the Supreme Court on three of our cases where we are directly representing the petitioners. The Court held its conference on Bennie v. Munn, (retaliation for speaking out for Tea Party) Foster v. Vilsack, (phony wetlands designation) and the Waters of the United States jurisdictional challenge.  ...

Earlier this month, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin announced the formation of a task force to review the state’s occupational licensing requirements. Throughout 2017 the task force will comprehensively review all of Oklahoma’s occupational licenses with an eye toward determining whether the amount and degree of licensing is necessary, a ...