CALIFORNIA LIBERTY

                  I know California and liberty don't normally go together, but once in awhile an anomaly comes along that defies all odds. 

                  According to an article in the New York Times last week, an explosion of home kitchen restaurants has following Riverside, California's adoption of the statewide Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operation  (MEHKO) law in 2019. 

                  This new law enables home kitchens to legally sell take-out and offer backyard seating--essentially, turn your home into a restaurant--without all the costly red tape of starting a stand-alone restaurant. Apparently it prohibits patrons from sitting inside the home to eat. 

                  Riverside was the first local jurisdiction to adopt the ordinance in 2019, so LA county now has that nearby 5-year experiment as precedent to silence naysayers. In Riverside, according to the NYT article the proliferation of in-home eateries has attracted both well-heeled chefs who want to downsize and of course a cadre of newbie entrepreneurs ready to serve their neighborhoods with home-made foods.

                  I don't know all the requirements in the ordinance, but the fact that it has created a tsunami of startups in Riverside indicates a doable option.  The ordinance goes into effect in LA county Nov. 1, this week. 

                  Folks, this is long overdue.  We desperately need carve-outs in our regulatory process to enable experiments like this to function.  The primary opposition to this ordinance is from two sources:  current stand-alone restaurants and paranoid consumer advocates.  But anyone who loves freedom and choice should be in favor of this liberty morsel meted out in one of our nation's most regulated states. 

                  This is one time when I hope what starts in California quickly moves through the rest of the country.  The regulatory pendulum needs to swing back to a more balanced place, and this ordinance is a wonderful example of the kind of liberty restoration our country needs.  So kudos to California.  Goodness knows I've lambasted California for a long time in its zealous drumbeat to tax and tyrannize, but today is a day to celebrate level-headedness.  May it move like a wave across the country. 

                  If you could sell food out of your home kitchen, would you?  Or do you know someone who would?  Or someone you'd like to patronize if they did because their cooking is wonderful?