Sometimes good ideas go awry, and that seems to be the case with the city's new master business license. The license, conceived as part of a larger attempt to streamline business regulations during the control board era, has become the source of much controversy, consternation and frustration as previously unlicensed businesses now find themselves subject to intrusive government regulation.

The problems with implementing this new licensing law are so complex that D.C. City Council already has been required twice to extend the deadline for businesses to come into compliance. At present, the law requires all businesses operating in the District with annual income of at least $2,000 to get a master business license before June 1 or face a $500 fine.

Among the businesses never before required to have a government license are many run by home-based entrepreneurs - such as piano teachers, babysitters, consultants and freelance writers - who now must open their homes to city inspectors.

Also among the previously unlicensed businesses are many law firms and nonprofit organizations, including Scout troops and PTAs. Churches and newspapers, which thought city leaders understood the intent of the First Amendment, also require a D.C. government license to operate legally under the new law.

Some home-based professionals who have complied with the law say the process was overly burdensome in both time and money. By the time all prerequisites for licensing are met, the nominal $35 license fee balloons, with ancillary costs, into several hundred dollars. The license must be renewed every two years.

Some members of the task force that originally proposed a master business license now say it was never intended to force onerous government requirements on so many small businesses. The main intent, they say, was to consolidate annual license and permit requirements so that businesses would have one government deadline, rather than several, to stay in compliance with licensing laws.

Apparently, others later envisioned the creation of a master license as a scheme to catch those who illegally operate in the District without a required business license. Their misguided logic, of course, assumes that these scofflaws will suddenly get religion and rush out to apply for a new license even though they ignored previous licensing laws.

A task force of government officials and business professionals has been meeting for several months to try to revise the law. That process should continue, possibly with an eye toward recommending ways that the executive branch of the D.C. government can better enforce licensing laws through improved computer tracking and inspections.

In the meantime, Councilman Jack Evans has proposed - with the backing of a majority of the council - that the flawed master business license law be repealed and that the old system be reinstated.

With a June deadline looming, council should move expeditiously to pass the Evans bill and continue to seek a more workable way to achieve the original intent of regulatory reform.

Copyright 2003, The Common Denominator