Teaching Yoga Is Not A Crime
The Richmond Times-Dispatch had a great op-ed yesterday detailing the Institute for Justice's latest legal battle against arbitrary state interference with the right to earn an honest living. Believe it or not, Virginia requires yoga instructors to jump through a series of expensive and unnecessary hoops before they can open up shop:
Among other things, the state requires a $2,500 application fee for mandated certification -- as well as annual renewal fees ranging from $500 to $2,500. That's a big nut for studios that often have only a handful of students in the course of a year. On top of that you can add detailed financial reporting requirements, a mound of paperwork (e.g., required written policies on grievances and "faculty accessibility"), and penalties for failure to comply that start at $1,000 a pop.
Fees and regulations like that would present a heavy burden for small studio owners in the best of times. In the current economic circumstances, they could be ruinous. Under any circumstances, they're unnecessary -- and perhaps unconstitutional.
And check out this great video on the case from IJ:
