New York State lawmakers are considering a bill that would require certain restaurants to be open seven days a week.

The recently proposed measure seems effectively targeted at some Chick-fil-A outlets and would mandate that restaurants at rest areas and transportation facilities be open for business every day of the week, yet would exclude local vendors and farmers markets.

Bill A08336 reads: “Allowing for retail space to go unused one seventh of the week or more is a disservice and unnecessary inconvenience to travelers who rely on these service areas.”

This is at odds with Chick-fil-A’s long-time policy of being closed on the Sabbath. The chicken vendor’s website states that S. Truett Cathy, company founder and devout Southern Baptist, believed it important to be closed on Sundays so that he and his employees “could set aside one day to rest, enjoy time with their families and loved ones, and worship if they choose.”

“Allowing for retail space to go unused one seventh of the week or more is a disservice and unnecessary inconvenience to travelers who rely on these service areas,” the bill claims.

As opposed to, say, government shutting down restaurants entirely during the coronavirus pandemic, nearly a third of which never reopened? And what about the disservice or inconvenience to the restaurant employees? Does that not figure into the equation?

This is simply more government overreach. Neither the Empire State, nor any other, should be able to dictate the operating hours of a private company. Should the bill ultimately be enacted, what will come next? Will some government demand that certain businesses stay open 24-hours a day? Or be open on Christmas and Easter? Not be open on Tuesdays? Will a government mandate certain menu items…and prices? Will lawmakers somewhere soon ban the sale of pork products in areas with a high population of Muslims? Will they make Chick-fil-A outlets bake cakes for gay weddings?

This alone may be a small issue, but the more government interferes in free markets, the worse the economy tends to be…and the less free are its citizens.

Whether Chick-fil-A sells more chicken or not, it should have a beef with that.

We all should.

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