Louisiana Legislator: Get A License Before Helping Your Flooded Neighbors

by Caleb Taylor : Looking to help out your neighbors in need? Don't try it in Louisiana — at least one state legislator thinks you should have to get a government license to do that.

Institute for Justice:Referred to by locals as the "Cajun Navy," a group of loosely organized volunteers with boats have been navigating the flooded neighborhoods, rescuing stranded residents and bringing them to safety. But one lawmaker has already said he is working on new legislation to require training and a license that would be required before the volunteers can get past law enforcement.

As local news station WWL reported, Republican State Senator Jonathan Perry has proposed licensing requirements for the volunteers. Perry argues that the purpose of the licenses would simply be to prevent the volunteers from being stopped by law enforcement as they try to save lives. Like most licensing requirements, however, this would likely require the volunteers to be trained, wasting valuable time as lives are on the line.

The Cajun Navy volunteers argued that they are more familiar with many of the flooded areas than outside rescue groups could be. One volunteer added that many of these concerned citizens are not going to simply wait for outside help while their neighbors are stranded. "They're doers," the volunteer said.This example in Louisiana illustrates a growing nationwide problem: politicians who want to regulate those offering to serve their fellow citizens.

Honestly, sometimes I wonder if the Good Samaritan would be subject to a fine if he were alive today.

The fact that the legislator in Louisiana looking to crack down on the "Cajun Navy" is a Republican illustrates something important: it shows that the urge to regulate occupations and services is a bipartisan problem that needs to be fixed.

This problem is prevalent here in the Natural State too.

According to the Institute for Justice (IJ), for instance, Arkansas has the second-most burdensome occupational licensing laws in the nation.

Arkansans are required to ask permission from the government to work in order to be a professional fisherman or makeup artist.

Should you have to have a license to be a doctor? Yes, probably. Should you have to have a license to be a makeup artist? No, the menace of rogue mascara appliers isn't a sufficiently large health and safety issue for bureaucrats and legislators to be concerned about.

Tennessee, another state bordering Arkansas, passed legislation earlier in 2016 that makes it a little easier for its citizens to work while being free of out-of-control government occupational licensing.

Hopefully, Arkansas legislators will emulate Tennessee's actions in 2017, rather than those of this Louisiana legislator in search of rogue Cajuns boldly helping their neighbors without the permission of bureaucrats.
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Caleb Taylor writes for the Arkansas Project an affiliate of the Advance Arkansas Institute, a nonprofit research and educational organization.

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