Ethics

Sandefur turns lawsuit into legislative victory

By Ed Brayton

Timothy Sandefur has been fighting a case in court that I think I've mentioned here before. The case is in Oregon, where the state had one of the most absurd rent-seeking laws I've ever seen on the books. Here's how he explained the law:

"The old law basically said that when you apply for a license to operate a moving company, the Oregon Department of Transportation would notify all existing moving companies and allow them to object," Sandefur explains. "Then the applicant would have to prove that there was a 'public need' for a new business - but nobody knows what 'public need' means." As a result, existing moving companies were protected from competition, and could keep their prices high.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on June 28, 2009 (boomark / email).