What the movement won
A running record of real gains in freedom: bans lifted, permits dropped, rules repealed, property and speech better protected. Every entry is sourced and dated. 10 of the 28 are partial wins and say why; 7 arrived as a state overriding a local rule, and say that too.
- North Carolina abolishes most parking minimums statewidePartial winState overrides local rule
North Carolina HB 162 prohibits most local governments from requiring a minimum number of off-street parking spaces for new development, the first statewide repeal of its kind. Governor Stein signed it July 6, 2026; it takes effect January 1, 2027.
Why this is a partial win
This arrived as a state law overriding local rules. Libertarians divide on that: some hold that a state has no business dictating what towns may forbid. The ledger records it because the person coerced was the owner who could not build, and after the law that owner can. The federalism question is real and is not the one the ledger measures. Some local governments and uses are exempt, and the repeal takes effect in January 2027.
- Supreme Court strikes down limits on what parties may spend with their candidates
In National Republican Senatorial Committee v. FEC the Supreme Court held 6 to 3 that federal limits on how much a political party may spend in coordination with its own candidates violate the First Amendment, overruling a 2001 precedent. The limits were not proportionate, necessary or narrowly tailored given less speech-restrictive ways to prevent circumvention.
- Supreme Court holds that pulling your phone's location history is a search
In Chatrie v. United States the Supreme Court held that police conduct a Fourth Amendment search when they obtain a person's cell-phone location history through a geofence warrant, because a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy in that data. Geofence warrants must now meet the ordinary requirements of probable cause and particularity.
- Colorado lets home cooks sell refrigerated foods and meat
Colorado HB 26-1033 expands the Cottage Foods Act to let a registered home producer sell foods that need refrigeration, including meat products, after food-safety training, and raises the revenue cap from $10,000 to $150,000 a year. Signed and in effect June 4, 2026.
- Colorado requires criminal charges before forfeiture and gives owners a lawyer
Colorado HB 26-1250 repeals the exception that let the state keep property without a conviction, requires criminal charges before any forfeiture or nuisance proceeding, pauses the civil case until the criminal case ends, and gives owners who cannot afford a lawyer one at the state's expense. It passed 64 to 1 and 33 to 2.
- Maryland ends parking mandates near rail stationsPartial winState overrides local rule
Maryland's Transit and Housing Opportunity Act, SB 389, bars local governments from requiring off-street parking for homes or mixed-use buildings within a quarter mile of a frequently served rail station unless a parking study approved by the state says otherwise. Signed May 26, 2026, as Chapter 592.
Why this is a partial win
This arrived as a state law overriding local rules. Libertarians divide on that: some hold that a state has no business dictating what towns may forbid. The ledger records it because the person coerced was the owner who could not build, and after the law that owner can. The federalism question is real and is not the one the ledger measures. The act pairs the parking change with state incentives and a study exception, and applies only within a quarter mile of frequent rail service.
- Oklahoma raises the home-food sales cap to $250,000
Oklahoma's Local Food Freedom Act, HB 3720, raises the annual sales limit for home and small food producers from $75,000 to $250,000, widens where they may produce and how they may sell, and keeps the label that says the food was made outside state inspection. Signed May 7, 2026; in effect November 1, 2026.
- Federal government reschedules state-licensed medical cannabis to Schedule IIIPartial win
A Drug Enforcement Administration final order, effective April 28, 2026, moved marijuana held under a state medical license, and marijuana in FDA-approved products, from Schedule I to Schedule III. Everything else stays in Schedule I. Because the 280E tax penalty applies only to Schedules I and II, state-licensed medical businesses can now deduct ordinary expenses.
Why this is a partial win
Only two categories moved. Unlicensed marijuana, bulk marijuana and adult-use products remain Schedule I, and possession outside a state medical program is as illegal under federal law as before. The gain is real for patients' suppliers and for research; it is not legalization.
- Virginia legalizes accessory dwelling units statewidePartial winState overrides local rule
Virginia SB 531 requires every locality to allow an accessory dwelling unit by right in single-family zoning, caps the permit fee at $500, bars setbacks stricter than those for the main house, and ends rules that required the occupant to be related to the owner. Signed April 13, 2026; in effect July 1, 2027.
Why this is a partial win
This arrived as a state law overriding local rules. Libertarians divide on that: some hold that a state has no business dictating what towns may forbid. The ledger records it because the person coerced was the owner who could not build, and after the law that owner can. The federalism question is real and is not the one the ledger measures. The law also sets state conditions of its own, and it does not take effect until July 2027.
- Washington enacts first comprehensive statewide rules for license-plate-reader surveillance
Washington's Driver Privacy Act caps ALPR data retention at 21 days, requires a warrant for law-enforcement access, bans buying and selling the data, and bars immigration-enforcement and First-Amendment-monitoring uses.
- Indiana exempts homestead vendors and small farms from food-establishment rules
Indiana HB 1424 lets homestead vendors and small farms with under $1.5 million in sales sell prepared foods, certain meat products, produce and baked goods directly to consumers from their property or a farmers market without the licensing and inspection rules that apply to restaurants, including foods that need temperature control. Signed March 12, 2026; in effect July 1, 2026.
- New York legalizes medical aid in dying for terminally ill adults
New York becomes the 12th state, and with the District of Columbia the 13th jurisdiction, to authorize medical aid in dying, allowing mentally capable adults with a terminal prognosis of six months or less to request a prescription to end their lives. The law takes effect six months after signing.
- Michigan doubles the cottage food cap and allows online sales
Michigan HB 4122 raises the annual sales limit for cottage food producers from $25,000 to $50,000, or $75,000 for higher-priced goods, and for the first time allows in-state sales by internet, mail order and third-party delivery. Signed December 23, 2025; in effect March 24, 2026.
- Illinois legalizes medical aid in dying for terminally ill adults
Illinois SB 1950, the End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act, lets a mentally capable adult with a prognosis of six months or less, confirmed by two physicians, request a self-administered prescription. Signed December 12, 2025; in effect September 12, 2026. The first Midwestern state, and the 13th jurisdiction, to authorize it.
- California legalizes mid-rise apartments near transit, preempting local single-family-only zoningPartial winState overrides local rule
SB 79 legalizes multi-story multi-family housing within a half-mile of major transit stations across California's largest counties, overriding the single-family-only zoning that covers most of that land.
Why this is a partial win
This arrived as a state law overriding local zoning. Libertarians divide on that: some hold that a state has no business dictating what towns may forbid. The ledger records it because the person coerced was the owner who could not build, and the day after signing that owner could. The federalism question is real and is not the one the ledger measures. SB 79 also carries affordability set-asides and labor standards on some projects, regulatory strings in the same enactment.
- California exempts most urban infill housing from CEQA environmental review
A pair of budget trailer bills creates a clean CEQA exemption for urban infill housing up to 20 acres and 85 feet, with a 30-day deadline for agency action — the most consequential CEQA reform in decades.
- Texas legalizes multifamily housing by-right on commercially zoned land in major citiesPartial winState overrides local rule
Senate Bill 840 requires Texas's largest cities to allow multifamily and mixed-use housing by right on commercially zoned land — bypassing the rezoning and public-hearing processes that constrain supply.
Why this is a partial win
This arrived as a state law overriding local zoning. Libertarians divide on that: some hold that a state has no business dictating what towns may forbid. The ledger records it because the person coerced was the owner who could not build, and the day after signing that owner could. The federalism question is real and is not the one the ledger measures. It applies only to the largest cities in the largest counties, so most Texans' towns are untouched.
- Texas enacts right-to-repair law for consumer electronicsPartial win
Texas requires consumer-electronics makers to provide replacement parts, tools, and documentation on fair terms — the eighth state and the first Republican-led state to enact a right-to-repair law for electronics.
Why this is a partial win
The law expands what an owner can do with a device by imposing a duty on its maker to sell parts, tools and documentation on fair terms. That is a new obligation on one set of people to widen the choices of another. The ledger records it because the practical effect is that owners control property they paid for; readers who weigh the mandate more heavily will discount it, and the ledger says so.
- Texas bans large-minimum-lot-size mandates on new starter-home subdivisionsPartial winState overrides local rule
SB 15 caps the minimum lot size Texas cities may require on new single-family subdivisions of five acres or more, removing a common municipal mechanism for blocking smaller, more affordable starter homes.
Why this is a partial win
This arrived as a state law overriding local zoning. Libertarians divide on that: some hold that a state has no business dictating what towns may forbid. The ledger records it because the person coerced was the owner who could not build, and the day after signing that owner could. The federalism question is real and is not the one the ledger measures. The cap applies only to new subdivisions of five acres or more in the largest cities; existing neighborhoods keep their minimums.
- Delaware legalizes medical aid in dying for terminally ill adults
Delaware becomes the 12th U.S. jurisdiction to authorize medical aid in dying, allowing mentally capable adults with a terminal prognosis of six months or less to request a self-administered prescription.
- Washington enacts right-to-repair laws for consumer electronics and mobility devicesPartial win
Washington's Right to Repair Act makes consumer-electronics manufacturers provide parts, tools, and documentation on fair terms and bans parts-pairing software locks; a companion bill covers mobility devices.
Why this is a partial win
As in Texas, the gain to owners arrives as a mandate on manufacturers, including a ban on software locks that pair parts to devices. The ledger records the owner's widened control and names the mandate that produced it.
- Washington raises the bar for forfeiture and shifts the burden onto the government
Washington HB 1440 raises the standard of proof for civil asset forfeiture to clear, cogent, and convincing evidence, shifts the burden of proof from property owners onto the government, and consolidates the state's scattered forfeiture laws into one statute.
- Texas enacts the nation's largest day-one school choice program
Texas Senate Bill 2 creates an education savings account program letting families use state funds for private-school tuition, therapy, transportation, and other approved costs — the largest first-year school-choice launch in the country.
- Massachusetts legalizes accessory dwelling units statewidePartial winState overrides local rule
The Massachusetts Affordable Homes Act requires every municipality to allow accessory dwelling units of 900 square feet or less by right in single-family zoning districts, ending local bans and discretionary permitting for small secondary homes.
Why this is a partial win
This arrived as a state law overriding local zoning. Libertarians divide on that: some hold that a state has no business dictating what towns may forbid. The ledger records it because the person coerced was the owner who could not build, and the day after signing that owner could. The federalism question is real and is not the one the ledger measures. The state also sets its own limits in the same act, 900 square feet and state regulations on what towns may require, so the owner trades a local ban for a state rulebook.
- Supreme Court rules unanimously against government coercion of private speech
In NRA v. Vullo, the Supreme Court held 9–0 that a government official violates the First Amendment by pressuring private intermediaries — here, banks and insurers — to cut ties with an advocacy organization because of its protected speech.
- Louisiana enacts one of the nation's broadest licensing-recognition laws
Louisiana's Welcome Home Act, SB 60 of the 2024 session, grants universal recognition of out-of-state occupational licenses, letting workers who held a license elsewhere in good standing for at least a year work in Louisiana without repeating training or testing.
- Austin cuts its minimum residential lot size by two-thirds
Austin's HOME Phase 2 ordinance reduced the city's minimum residential lot size from 5,750 square feet to 1,800, allowing more — and smaller, more attainable — homes on land previously restricted to a single house.
- Kansas overhauls civil asset forfeiture with a unanimous bipartisan vote
Kansas SB 458 raises the burden of proof for civil asset forfeiture, requires judicial review to establish probable cause, makes the government pay attorney fees when an owner successfully challenges a seizure, bars forfeiture for personal-use drug possession, and limits when local police can hand cases to federal agencies for adoption.
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The bar
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Report a win
A law repealed, a license dropped, a ruling that widened someone's choices. Tell us what changed and where to check it. An editor applies the bar; nothing is published automatically.