City Sued Over Tour Guide Licensure Racket
There is an ongoing dispute in Charleston, South Carolina, over a licensing issue relating to tour guide services. A lawsuit has been launched against the city of Charleston over its ruling that individuals need to first seek licenses before they can offer tour guide services in the area.
A judge has recently refused to settle the case and now it's headed to a jury for them to decide.
Among the questions that need to be answered on the test, according to the training guide manual, are questions like: knowing all cities, areas, and neighborhoods, in the Charleston metro area, how many hotel rooms are in that area, the average or current enrollment numbers at roughly 10 different universities in the district, the names and years for 26 movies and TV shows that are affiliated with the city, and more.
Those interested in seeking the license need to score 80 percent or higher on the written test before they are allowed to move on to the oral test.
A few people have failed that test and those individuals launched a lawsuit against the city as a result; they believe that the current restrictions in place are a violation to their 1st Amendment rights. Not only that, but that the state might be using these rules in order to preserve and promote their own historical narrative.
Their case is being represented by lawyers from the Institute for Justice.
The judge did allege that he didn't see the current rules in place as restricting the freedom of people to discuss their historical views but only that it restricted that speech in certain areas in exchange for payment.
However, shouldn't customers, just as well as those speaking, have the freedom to decide who we are willing to give our money to in exchange for what we deem to be valuable information? Yet the state in this circumstance wants to take the job of deciding for us. The lawyers representing them affirm that you shouldn't need to seek permission first before engaging in speaking and sharing information for money.
For those who don't first seek the appropriate permission and license before they start offering their historical information and tour guide services, they could receive fines up to $500, or even jail time. No court date has been set yet for the trial.
This isn't the first time that the IJ has fought in lawsuits that have specifically challenged the occupational licensing rules surrounding tour guide services. They have previously won several lawsuits pertaining to this issue, in areas like Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and Georgia.
Pics:
Pixabay
the noun project via thenounproject.com/term/tour-guide/977769/
Sources:
http://abcnews4.com/news/local/charleston-tour-guide-lawsuit-goes-to-federal-court
https://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/TheBattery/archives/2017/04/06/both-sides-await-judges-ruling-on-lawsuit-challenging-charlestons-tour-guide-laws
http://ij.org/case/charleston-tour-guides/
https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/postandcourier.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/0f/60f4a3ba-a21b-11e7-9fb5-171d711cba90/59c9444f01aab.pdf.pdf
http://www.postandcourier.com/business/lawsuit-against-charleston-s-tour-guide-license-rule-headed-for/article_3f9422ea-a21b-11e7-8b5c-879c8a3741fc.html
@doitvoluntarily looks wonderful city to visit...
City's love to impose as many regulations on people as possible. It is sad that they just compound them more for revenue than to actually help maintain a true quality standard. This just goes to show how important it is that we limit government we where supposed to have the true control. Unfortunately through the years people have traded their rights off for more social programs and big gov.
If im paying a tour guide or tipping a tour guide its because I liked the service and believe all the information he tells me is actually correct , I really doubt they are going to just make stuff up LOL and wing it !! Haha ! But why you need to follow a structured guide is beyond me ! It seems these days you need a license to wipe your ass LOL! Im sure all this money the city collects and every city collects from these stupid licenses and courses they make people take these days is totally taxed to death and totally unnecessary ! Thanks for sharing , great job @doitvoluntarily !👍👍👍👍
IYI's - Intellectuals Yet Idiots I guess @karenmckersie?
LOL!😂
LOL! I agree !😂💕
Fuck the police. :)
O my god....so difficult to be a tourist guide...i am just thinking how much difficult to be a teacher there........
Resteem your post
hard work dear friend
Looks its really hard to be a Guide .
Thanks for sharing this news here my friend !
Funny, I mean its not like someone is gonna deliberately lie to you about their home town. If they don't know something they can just say I don't know. People can google anything within 5 seconds anyway. Tour guides are more for company, so you don't have to do stuff alone and to get a taste of what people are like in that city.