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Tour guides challenge Phila. licensing law

An unconstitutional law in the birthplace of the Constitution? There is indeed, claim three tour guides who have taken issue with City Council's attempt to ensure that they know their history.

Tour guides (from left) Ann Boulais, Joshua Silver and Michael Tait have filed suit to keep the licensing law from taking effect.
Tour guides (from left) Ann Boulais, Joshua Silver and Michael Tait have filed suit to keep the licensing law from taking effect.Read more

An unconstitutional law in the birthplace of the Constitution?

There is indeed, claim three tour guides who have taken issue with City Council's attempt to ensure that they know their history.

The guides filed a federal lawsuit yesterday that seeks to knock down a new city tour-guide licensing law.

Brought with the backing of some tour operators, the suit argues that the law, which takes effect Oct. 13 and imposes fines of up to $300, violates tour guides' First Amendment free-speech rights.

"The Constitution protects your right to talk for a living, whether you're a journalist, a stand-up comedian, or a tour guide," said Robert J. McNamara, a staff attorney with the Institute for Justice, a Virginia-based libertarian organization that is representing the plaintiffs.

"You cannot punish people for unauthorized talking," he said.

The law, which Mayor Nutter signed in April, requires tour guides operating in the Center City tourist area - river to river between Vine and South Streets - to pay a fee, provide proof of insurance, and pass a written test to obtain a license.

Doug Oliver, a spokesman for Nutter, said that he could not specifically address the lawsuit, but that the city stood behind the law as a way of ensuring the professionalism of tour guides.

"Tourism is a major piece of our economy, and it's only reasonable that visitors receive accurate information about the many historical sites in our city," he said.

The plaintiffs - Ann Boulais, who works for American Trolley Tours; Michael Tait of the Constitutional Walking Tour of Philadelphia; and independent contractor Joshua Silver - said they had no objection to a voluntary program that would certify tour guides as meeting a certain standard.

But they object to anything that would make participation mandatory and impose fines.

"I think City Council committed an egregious offense . . . when they made a conscious decision to take away my freedom of speech," said Boulais, who has been a guide for five years.

"This bill does not guarantee a good story," she said. "It guarantees I can pass a test. It doesn't make me a better guide. It doesn't make me a more accurate guide."

The plaintiffs also object to one section of the law under which the yet-to-be-created department that will administer the regulations can issue a exemption to any tour company that has an educational program and evaluates its employees by a standard equal to or exceeding the city's written examination.

"That's simply unfair," Silver, a guide for 11 years, said, adding it also could raise questions of "political favoritism."

The Constitutional Walking Tour has an immersion program and theoretically could take advantage of that section of the law.

But Jonathan Bari, the firm's president, remains opposed to licensing any guides, saying he prefers a voluntary program.

In their lawsuit, the guides also argue that no test could fit all the different types of tours.

"Information relevant to an individual leading a tour of purportedly haunted locations would be wholly irrelevant to an individual leading a tour of locations important to the drafting of the Constitution," the suit says.