Model Legislation
Immunity and Accountability
Protecting Everyone’s Constitutional Rights Ordinance
Qualified immunity is a judge-made doctrine that shields local, state and federal government officials–not just police–from accountability. In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court created the doctrine to ensure, in its words, it would be difficult…
Immunity and Accountability
Protecting Everyone’s Constitutional Rights Act
This model bill guarantees that if citizens must follow the law, state and local government officials must follow the Constitution.
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
Criminal Forfeiture Process Act
Civil forfeiture is a serious assault by government on cars, cash and other property. To lose your property in most states, prosecutors do not have to charge you, let alone convict you of a crime.
4th Amendment Project
Protecting All Property, Including Open Fields, From Warrantless Searches Act
The Fourth Amendment protects the right of the people to be secure from government’s unchecked power to search and seize. Ordinarily, courts enforce that right by requiring a warrant before government officials enter private property.
4th Amendment Project
Protecting Shared Physical and Digital Property from Warrantless Searches Act
The Fourth Amendment is meant to protect the right of the people to be secure in their persons and property by limiting the government’s power to search and seize. Typically, officials must obtain a warrant…
Immunity and Accountability
State Court Remedies for Constitutional Violations by Federal Employees Act
State legislators’ most important responsibility is to protect rights under the laws and constitutions of the United States and their states. This responsibility includes providing a remedy of damages against government officials who violate those…
First Amendment
Anti-SLAPP Act
Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) are a way for individuals who do business with the government to silence their critics through costly lawsuits. In many states, there are no protections from frivolous defamation suits…
Cosmetology | Economic Liberty
Niche-Beauty Services Opportunity Act
Hairstyling salons, commonly known as ‘blow dry bars’, are experiencing increased popularity across the country. Unlike traditional cosmetology salons, hairstyling salons offer safe, limited services including shampooing, blow drying and styling hair. These specialty salons…
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing
Occupational Licensing Relief and Job Creation Act
About a fifth of the American workforce must get a permission slip from the government—known as an occupational license—to legally work in their chosen occupations. Getting a license can be costly and time-consuming, requiring fees,…
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing
Sunrise & Sunset Occupational Licensing Review Act
Occupational licensing is one the biggest issues in labor economics today. About 25% of workers needs a government-issued license to work. That represents a five-fold increase since the 1950s, when only about 5% of workers…
Economic Liberty | Fresh Start
Collateral Consequences in Occupational Licensing Act
A job is one of the best ways for people with criminal records not to re-offend. But many occupational licensing laws block or burden ex-offenders. Many licensing laws have morality clauses that (1) bar automatically…
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing
Universal Recognition of Occupational Licenses Act
Occupational licenses often are barriers to worker mobility. One state will not recognize another state’s license because personal qualifications differ. And even when some recognition is included in statutes, state laws often impose significant costs—in…
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
Seizure and Forfeiture Reporting Act
Civil forfeiture—where the government can take and keep your property without ever charging you with a crime, let alone convicting you of one—is one of the greatest threats to property rights in the nation. Such…
Fines and Fees
Fines and Fees Reporting Act
Most municipalities allow law or code enforcement officers to cite residents for violations that may result in fines. Unfortunately, some use this power to generate revenue rather than solely to protect public safety and property.
Food Freedom | Private Property
Vegetable Garden Protection Act
People have used their property to grow food since the dawn of modern civilization. Americans are no different. Our national identity is rooted in the Jeffersonian ideal of farmers and settlers. Even as fewer people…
Cosmetology | Economic Liberty
Salon Inspection Act
The beauty industry offers great opportunities for work and entrepreneurship. However, states erect roadblocks by requiring barbers, cosmetologists, estheticians and nail technicians to spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars to attend schools and…
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing
Occupational Regulation Defense Act
Occupational licensing is under increasing scrutiny. Groups as ideologically diverse as the Obama White House, the Trump Administration’s Federal Trade Commission, the Brookings Institution, the National Conference of State Legislators and the Institute for Justice, have…
Economic Liberty | Vending
Mobile Food Vendor Freedom Act
Everyone benefits from food trucks. With low start-up costs, food trucks offer first-time entrepreneurs the opportunity to experiment, accumulate capital and build businesses. For established restauranteurs, they are a means to expand, build their brands…
Economic Liberty | Private Property
Home-Based Business and Occupation Act
The pre-COVID custom of Americans living in one place but working from another is historically unusual. As one scholar noted, “the phenomenon of leaving home to go to work did not become the norm until…
Economic Liberty | Food Freedom
Food Freedom Act
Selling homemade food is a great way for entrepreneurs with big dreams but little capital to start a business. Working from their homes, they can avoid spending tens of thousands of dollars on commercial kitchen space.
Cosmetology | Economic Liberty
Eyebrow Threader Opportunity and Freedom Act
Eyebrow threading is an ancient grooming technique that dates back thousands of years to parts of South Asia and the Middle East. Using only a simple cotton thread to form loops as they work, threaders…
Eminent Domain | Private Property
Eminent Domain Act
Despite mass public outcry following the U.S. Supreme Court’s infamous decision in Kelo v. City of New London, eminent domain for private gain continues to threaten homeowners and small businesses. While 43 states reformed their laws…
Educational Choice | Tax Credit Scholarships
Education Savings Account Act: Tax-Credit Funded
Our present system of delivering publicly funded education is in need of dramatic reform. Educational choice programs provide that reform as they shift the power from state boards of education and school districts to parents. …
Educational Choice | Publicly Funded Scholarships
Education Savings Account Act: Publicly Funded
Our present system of delivering publicly funded education is in need of dramatic reform. Educational choice programs provide that reform as they shift the power from state boards of education and school districts to parents. …
Fines and Fees
Driver’s License Suspensions and Revocations
Eleven million Americans face the suspension or revocation of driving privileges because of unpaid fines and fees. Suspending and revoking licenses for the collection of court debt, and not public safety, is bad public policy.
Economic Liberty | Hair Braiding
Braider Opportunity and Freedom Act
African-style hair braiding is a common and safe practice that has existed for thousands of years. It also offers great opportunities for entrepreneurs in African-American and African immigrant communities to support themselves and their families,…
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
Anti-Circumvention Forfeiture Act
Under civil forfeiture, the state can permanently confiscate your cash, car, and other property, without a prosecutor convicting, or even charging you with a crime. Although some states have acted to protect innocent property owners,…
Fines and Fees
Fines and Fees at Sentencing Act
Fines and fees are a routine part of criminal sentences. Many courts, however, fail to consider an offender’s ability to pay before assessing them. In fact, offenders often are ordered to pay fines and fees…
Economic Liberty | Vending
Mobile Food Vendor Freedom Municipal Ordinance
Starting a food truck has helped many entrepreneurs realize the American dream. These mobile kitchens create jobs and provide an economic boost to the communities they serve. Unfortunately, many counties and cities make it near…