Category: Regulation

Posts about government regulation

The Supreme Court Should End Chevron Deference

Chevron is unconstitutional for several reasons. It gives judicial power—the power to interpret the meaning of the law—to the administrative state within the Executive Branch. The Constitution, however, grants all judicial power to the Judicial Branch. Chevron is also unconstitutional because it biases the courts towards the agencies, stripping the judiciary of impartiality and denying litigants basic due process. But a third reason, and the focus of our brief, is that Chevron deference is ahistorical, arising not out of the original understanding of the Constitution but rather out of the administrative bloat of the New Deal era.

https://www.cato.org/blog/supreme-court-should-end-chevron-deference

What’s Next for America’s Independent Workers?

As these states’ experience shows, applying the ABC test nationally would force hundreds of now‐​independent occupations to be reclassified as employees, regardless of workers’ and employers’ own contracting decisions. This could impose significant economic harms—including for the very workers the proposed rule is supposedly protecting.

https://www.cato.org/blog/whats-next-americas-independent-workers

Oregon’s Anti-Vape Laws Will Put This Deaf Immigrant’s Hookah Shop Out of Business

You can smoke all the pot you want, but flavored tobacco or nicotine is soon to be illegal.

The illogic of this ordinance is almost too obvious to be worth explaining, but here it goes anyway: Regulating products solely by their flavor and with zero regard for their capacity for harm is a terrible way to legislate public health. It leaves the deadliest products widely available on the shelves of every convenience store while banning far safer alternatives that do substantially less harm to users and have a proven record of helping smokers quit.

https://reason.com/2022/12/09/oregons-anti-vape-laws-will-put-this-deaf-immigrants-hookah-shop-out-of-business/

‘MyPlate,’ the USDA’s ‘Food Pyramid’ Replacement, Is Also a Dud

The federal government continues to be very bad at telling people what and how to eat

Americans largely ignore the government’s nutritional and dietary advice. And the federal government will no doubt largely ignore the results of its own research—meaning the failure that is MyPlate will likely continue apace until it’s replaced by another highly touted but ultimately ignorable government dietary scheme.

https://reason.com/2022/12/10/the-usdas-food-pyramid-replacement-is-also-a-dud-that-americans-ignore/

Do Our Roads Have to be Built by Government?

What if we had left road construction to private enterprise? The road network that began with private toll roads would have continued to develop if governments hadn’t intervened. People would never have gotten hooked on the notion that driving should be “free.” The roads and bridges would have been better maintained under private ownership than under government control, with politicians often skimping on maintenance in favor of spending that does them more immediate political good.

Do Our Roads Have to be Built by Government?

Tracking Truckers

This rule represents another misguided attempt by the government to trade the public’s privacy rights in exchange for the endless quest for “safety.” In reality, this trade-off will likely impact the availability of consumer goods while having no corresponding positive impact on public safety. As always, trading privacy for safety points to a bitter exchange for American consumers.

Tracking Truckers

Privacy in the Digital Era: Who Controls Private Data?

Solutions should focus on undercutting the incentives that merge corporate and government interests. To preserve freedom for posterity, liberty-minded policymakers should be working to stymie the government’s ability to capture and control data in the digital commons. This means preventing public-private partnerships that give government control over private data.

Privacy in the Digital Era: Who Controls Private Data?

D.C.’s ‘Green New Deal for Housing’ Is Doomed Before It Begins

Social housing supporters hope that the city can get city-owned, city-operated housing right with a new office, a more expansive mission, and different branding.

https://reason.com/2022/12/02/d-c-s-green-new-deal-for-housing-is-doomed-before-it-begins/

The Federal Government’s Plan to Track Truckers’ Every Movement Is a Privacy Nightmare

This surveillance would be unconstitutional—and there’s no reason to believe it will make anyone safer.

https://reason.com/2022/11/28/the-federal-governments-plan-to-track-truckers-every-movement-is-a-privacy-nightmare/

2022: The Year the “Lodger Evil” Came to Kansas and Made Housing Less Affordable

Housing restrictions might be politically inevitable, but they are almost always economically silly. To top it off, they reinforce the privilege and power of the already privileged and powerful…

2022: The Year the “Lodger Evil” Came to Kansas and Made Housing Less Affordable