Post by RS Davis on Jan 12, 2004 2:30:07 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]Jacob Sullum[/glow] Last year Sandy Meadows, who supervises the floral department at an Albertson's supermarket in Baton Rouge, was filling in at another Albertson's store that had lost its florist when she was visited by an inspector from the Louisiana Horticulture Commission. He told her she'd have to throw out the seven arrangements she had produced that morning if she wanted to avoid a $250 citation for practicing floristry without a license.
Louisiana appears to be the only state in the nation that treats unlicensed florists making unauthorized arrangements as a public menace. If Meadows gets her way, it will no longer have that distinction.
Last month Meadows and two other women whose floral work has been praised by the public but rejected by the state filed a federal lawsuit challenging Louisiana's 65-year-old florist licensing law as an anti-competitive, unconstitutional infringement on their right to earn a living. Their case is part of a campaign by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Justice to restore respect for economic freedom by forcing governments to justify the barriers they erect between people and their chosen work.
Louisiana appears to be the only state in the nation that treats unlicensed florists making unauthorized arrangements as a public menace. If Meadows gets her way, it will no longer have that distinction.
Last month Meadows and two other women whose floral work has been praised by the public but rejected by the state filed a federal lawsuit challenging Louisiana's 65-year-old florist licensing law as an anti-competitive, unconstitutional infringement on their right to earn a living. Their case is part of a campaign by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Justice to restore respect for economic freedom by forcing governments to justify the barriers they erect between people and their chosen work.
- Rick
