Mississippi Loses Some Licensing Weight

A dietician wins a legal victory over health department tyrants

WSJ editorial.

"Mississippi residents have the highest obesity rate in the U.S., but the state is about to shed a few regulatory pounds. Raise your protein shake to personal trainer Donna Harris and her lawyers at the Mississippi Justice Institute.

Effective May 16, the Mississippi State Department of Health will no longer require residents who don’t claim to be dieticians to get a dietician’s license before they can offer non-medical weight-control services. The reform is part of a settlement with Ms. Harris, who was targeted by state regulators.

In addition to her personal trainer’s certification, Ms. Harris has a bachelor’s degree in food science, nutrition and health promotion and a master’s in occupational therapy. In early 2020 she debuted a weight loss challenge that included one-on-one coaching and a private Facebook page where participants could swap recipes and cheer for each other. Seventy people paid $99 for her eight-week program.

Enter the state health department, which complained that Ms. Harris was working as an unlicensed dietician, though she never claimed to be one. Regulators threatened her with six months in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, and criminal and civil actions if she didn’t cease and desist. That forced Ms. Harris to cancel her program, and she refunded nearly $7,000 to those who had signed up. 

Ms. Harris sued, claiming that the health department’s rules amounted to “government censorship of speech on the age-old topic of weight loss.” Under an agreement reached late last year, the health department agreed to tighten its regulatory belt.

The fat old rules were prohibitive. Mississippi’s requirements for a dietician’s license have fluctuated amid the pandemic, but when Ms. Harris began her program she would have had to undergo 1,200 hours of supervised practice and pay $300 for exams and fees.

Occupational licensing laws are a form of guild protectionism that reduces competition and blocks millions from making a better living. Congrats to Ms. Harris on this victory over petty government tyranny."