Tomorrow, Florida has a golden opportunity to strike a major blow for economic liberty.
The vital question is this: Will Republican senators live up to their promises to remove job-killing regulations and red tape, or will they cave in to powerful special interests and high-paid lobbyists?
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On Friday, the Florida Senate will vote on HB 5005, a House bill that removes needless licensing requirements for several harmless trades–including hair braiders, outdoor theater workers and interior designers.
But as the video above explains:
The legislature set out to [remove] unnecessary licensing laws, including one that makes is a crime to practice interior design without a college degree and a two-year apprenticeship . . . . Lobbyists for the American Society of Interior Designers are trying to derail reform efforts by stirring up trouble in Tallahassee before the legislative session ends this Friday.
The American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) represents less than three percent of all designers, but its members have designated themselves as spokespeople for the entire industry. And for the last 30 years, ASID has spent millions of dollars on a coast–to-coast lobbying campaign designed to legislate potential competitors out of business.
This 30-year fight all comes down to the Florida Senate tomorrow.
ASID’s lobbying campaign has been rejected in legislatures and courtrooms nationwide. Only three states in the entire country require a license to practice interior design. And Florida’s is by far the most sweeping and most aggressively enforced interior design law in the country. If the Florida Senate votes to deregulate interior design by approving HB 5005 tomorrow, it will be a huge–and possibly fatal–blow to ASID’s national cartelization effort.
That’s why ASID has hired six different lobbying firms to resist deregulation and preserve ASID’s state-sanctioned monopoly in Florida. ASID and its high-paid stable of lobbyists are throwing everything they have behind their last-ditch effort to derail the attempt to expand economic opportunity in Florida by eliminating unnecessary occupational licensing laws.
Will Florida Republicans put economic opportunity ahead of special interest politics by voting to deregulate interior design and other harmless occupations?
THIS IS IT. Everyone who cares about economic liberty and beating back Big Government please visit ij.org/deregulateflorida to find out how you can help. Bloggers, reporters, activists–and especially Florida residents–now is the time to take action!
The proceedings will be streamed live tomorrow at www.flsenate.gov.
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