A free-market legal advocacy group is asking a federal judge to do what Gov. Jay Nixon wouldn't: Deregulate Missouri's household goods moving industry

The Pacific Legal Foundation, which has been supporting Michael Munie of south St. Louis County in a suit against the state, filed a motion this week arguing that Missouri's moving regulations are unconstitutional. Munie, who owns ABC Quality Moving, applied for a license to operate as much as 125 miles from St. Louis, but ran into regulations that allows other moving companies to object to any new competitor. Such rules, the motion says,

establish an arbitrary, irrational, and unconstitutional
"Competitor's Veto" that bars entrepreneurs like Munie from entering the moving business, not for any public purpose, but solely to serve the private, anticompetitive purposes of established moving companies....

Munie contends this “Competitor’s Veto” Procedure deprives him of his constitutionally protected freedom to labor in a common occupation, and bears no rational relationship to a legitimate government interest. The only purpose or effect of this Procedure is to preserve the market share of existing moving companies against potential competition by new entrants like Munie.

ABC Quality Moving withdrew its original request after four competing companies objected, and settled for a license that allows it to operate in St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Charles County. The Pacific Legal Foundation found 16 similar applications filed for Missouri licenses since 2005, with competitors objecting to all of them and citing potential "diversion of traffic or revenue." Most of the applications were eventually withdrawn.

The foundation's motion asks U.S. District Judge Audrey Fleissig to declare the Missouri regulations unconstitutional.

As I explained in a column last year, Missouri's moving regulations date back to the 1930s, and reflect a now-discredited theory that jobs could be saved by letting companies form cartels. Munie told me that he can handle interstate moves of any distance, but has had to turn down people who inquire about a cross-state move.

In last year's Missouri Legislature, the Missouri Movers Association threw its support behind a bill that would deregulate the industry. The bill passed the House 147-1 and the Senate 32-0, but Nixon vetoed it because he objected to a provision on billboards.

The deregulation bill has been introduced this year as SB470, sponsored by Republican State Sen. Bob Dixon of Springfield. In a news release, Dixon says:

It's common sense to remove unnecessary restrictions on the ability of Missourians to start new businesses, expand and grow.

In the Show-Me State, unfortunately, common-sense goals aren't always easy to accomplish. Perhaps if the Legislature and governor can't modernize the state's moving regulations, Judge Fleissig will.