Finally, a right to move — and to compete — in West Virginia

I've been a household goods mover for more than 24 years and, since 2005, owner of Lloyd's Transfer & Storage, a small moving company in Berryville, Virginia, just 10 miles from the West Virginia border. And for the past year or so, I've been the plaintiff in a federal constitutional lawsuit against West Virginia, challenging a law that denied me the right to offer moving services within the state without the consent of its established moving companies.

Thankfully, earlier this year, West Virginia's governor signed a bill into law that effectively repealed the law that barred me and companies like mine from competing, bringing an end to this cronyism. As the law officially went into effect July 1, this victory will now help me increase the size of my business with its seven employees and six moving trucks. But this fight has also been a deeply personal one for me.

I started with Lloyd's Transfer in 1992 as a driver. I worked my way up through every position in the company for over a decade. When my wife, Stephanie, and I had the opportunity to buy the business from the Lloyd family in 2005, we took it — and worked side-by-side until her death in 2015. My business — the freedom to do the work I have chosen — is an important part of who I am. But the last few years were stressful.

In 2012 we received a letter from the state of West Virginia telling us that we did not have proper legal authority to service local and intrastate moves within that state. This was a devastating blow to our small border-town business. We received calls nearly every day from potential customers in West Virginia asking for help — customers we now had to refuse.

Stephanie led the charge to get our legal certification in West Virginia. We spent more than $10,000 on legal bills and nearly a year going through the process. What we discovered was shocking. To compete, we needed to get a "Certificate of Necessity" — a special permit — by proving to the state that there is a "need" for additional moving services in West Virginia that can't be handled by existing moving companies.