Red-tape is simply maddening. If you run a business, you know what this means. It seems like government bureaucrats insist on regulating anything and everything—if it moves, they regulate it. But, the NFIB Legal Center and NFIB work hard to cut through needless red-tape.
We know that business owners are struggling with the costs of an ever-tightening regulatory noose and piles of paperwork. But, nothing is more frustrating than being forced to jump through pointless regulatory hoops. That is why NFIB’s Legal Center filed in support of business owners in CTIA v. City of San Francisco.
Last year, the City of San Francisco enacted an ordinance prohibiting vendors from selling cell phones unless they also issued a warning about the possibility that cell phone use might—somehow—cause cancer. But, the City admitted, after the lawsuit was filed, that it had no evidence to support the cancer allegations. In other words, the regulation was based on nothing but conjecture and speculation.
In the end, NFIB helped secure a victory for small business owners. A federal court of appeals recently struck down the San Francisco ordinance. The labeling requirement made no sense and violated business owners’ First Amendment protection against compelled government speech.
Now, we understand the need for reasonable regulation. Obviously labeling requirements make sense if there are legitimate health and safety concerns about a product. But, we will continue to stand up against regulatory restrictions that hurt business and accomplish nothing else. Indeed, this victory is important, but it represents only a skirmish in a larger battle against regulatory overreach in America. As always, we continue the fight for small business rights.
For more information on NFIB’s fights in the courts visit
http://www.nfib.com/legal-center
. In addition, Small Businesses for Sensible Regulations, a project of NFIB, is a new effort dedicated to protecting small businesses and American jobs from the impacts of regulations recently proposed by the Obama administration. To read more about the coalition, go to
http://www.sensibleregulations.org/
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