Should you need a government license to sell a box or a cloth? Alabama sure thinks so, but only if it affects the business of funeral directors. ADVERTISING Should you need a government license to sell a box or a
Should you need a government license to sell a box or a cloth? Alabama sure thinks so, but only if it affects the business of funeral directors.
Shelia Champion just wanted to offer a cheaper and more environmentally friendly alternative to traditional funerals and cemeteries, which cost $7,000 to $10,000 on average, so she opened The Good Earth Burial Ground in Hazel Green, Ala.
But in Alabama, only licensed funeral directors can sell “funeral merchandise” such as caskets, shrouds and urns. In order to satisfy the licensing requirements, Champion would have to spend at least one year in mortuary school learning things totally irrelevant to her business, such as embalming, plus two years as an apprentice, and hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a funeral home, since funeral merchandise can only be sold from a state-licensed “funeral establishment.” She potentially faces thousands of dollars in fines and a year in jail for violating the law.
So, Champion and the Institute for Justice are suing the state over its arbitrary and protectionist law.
Occupational licensing laws are rarely about protecting public safety, and far more often are about protecting the profits of licensed practitioners by shielding them from competition. These restrictions on economic liberty should be buried.
— The Orange County Register
