Articles

Weekly litigation report — May 19, 2018

May 19, 2018 | By JAMES BURLING

Is plowing a field “dredging and filling” under the Clean Water Act? Food and Drug Administration wants Texas business owner to litigate her civil rights case in D.C. Eleventh Circuit vindicates Chmielewski family’s property rights PLF urges Supreme Court to take up hair braiders’ case Supreme Court strikes down anti-gamblin ...

Articles

Braiding hair is not a crime

May 15, 2018 | By CALEB TROTTER

Earlier this year, I noted that the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals endorsed extreme deference to the government when it rejected a challenge by hair braiders in Missouri to the state’s requirement that braiders be licensed as a cosmetologist or barber. In Niang v. Tomblinson, the Supreme Court of the United States has the opportunity … ...

Articles

New empirical study on regulation of landscape contractors

March 13, 2018 | By CALEB TROTTER

More and more people are becoming aware of the expansive and burdensome legal barriers that nearly a third of Americans encounter when seeking to earn a living in the profession of their choice. The most onerous of these barriers is the occupational license. Occupational licensing is typical in professions with serious health and fraud risks ̷ ...

Articles

A good day for economic liberty in New Jersey

January 17, 2018 | By CALEB TROTTER

All too often we’ve had the displeasure of reporting on courts rubber stamping licensing schemes and legislative reform efforts dying in a haze of predictable interest group lobbying. Nevertheless, there is good news! … ...

Articles

Licensed out : occupational licensing hurts, not helps

August 04, 2017 | By ANASTASIA BODEN

When Arty Vogt purchased a moving business with his wife Stephanie, he never thought that running it would be easy.  But he certainly didn’t think that he’d be shut down simply because the existing businesses didn’t want to compete with him. Unfortunately, Arty operated in West Virginia, which required movers to obtain a “C ...

Articles

Occupational de-licensing in Connecticut

July 07, 2017 | By CALEB TROTTER

Earlier this week Connecticut removed occupational licensing, registration, and certificate requirements for several professions. The de-licensing of an occupation is especially notable because of its rarity. A 2015 study authored by Dr. Robert J. Thornton and Dr. Edward J. Timmons, and published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, found tha ...

Articles

New Federal Trade Commission economic liberty website

March 17, 2017 | By CALEB TROTTER

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 ...

Articles

Oregonian : Do you need a license to draw pretty pictures?

March 16, 2017 | By ANASTASIA BODEN

The Oregonian has published my op-ed on PLF client David Hansen, who was fined $30,000 for making marketing drawings without an architect’s license.  As I write in the op-ed: David’s story is just one example in a trend of licensing bodies interpreting their authority broadly to prevent people from competing with licensees. Both ends o ...

Articles

An online review portal could replace some occupational licenses in Washington

March 10, 2017 | By CALEB TROTTER

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 ...