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California Lawmakers At Work Passing Crazy Laws
The 2004 Nosey Awards For California's Insane Laws
May 24, 2005
By
James Galley
Copyright Jim Galley, Ray Haynes
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| San Diego, California - Here is the 2004 Nosey Awards list of the worst of of the crazy laws that California lawmakers worked on :
THE 2004 NOSEY AWARDS
By Assemblyman Ray Haynes
The more the government gets involved in regulating every aspect of our private and professional lives, the further it gets from being able to successfully fulfill the basic responsibilities that we need government for in the first place. If we spent more time in the Legislature working on our state's infrastructure and public safety, and less time poking our noses into everyone's business, our state would be a lot better off.
But despite the various fiscal and regulatory crises our state continues to face, the problem this year in giving the Third Annual Nosey Awards was not finding ten deserving bills, but in narrowing the many possible choices down to a terrible ten finalists.
Keep in mind that these are not generally the worst or potentially most damaging bills of the year, but merely my favorite examples of the legislature trying to stick its nose into the most poorly thought out places.
The 2004 Nosey Award Winner is:
1. SB 1520 Foie Gras - Really this new law, signed by the Governor, symbolizes the pinnacle of pointless proposals. It deals with a food item (foie gras) that few people can pronounce, few can afford, and even fewer actually eat. It regulates the methods used to feed the ducks that are used to produce the foie gras that feeds people. Essentially we are now regulating how our dinner eats its dinner! To top it off, only one foie gras farm even exists in the state, and this legislation won't take effect until this duck rancher retires! Who says the legislature "ducks" all the tough issues in Sacramento?
Runners Up
2. ACR 144 Feng Shui - Another heroic effort by the legislature to tackle a topic nobody can pronounce or spell. This bill would have integrated "feng shui" principles into the state building code. Feng Shui attempts to use architecture and interior design to channel positive "energy" into a building and chase negative "energy" out. Only a half-step shy of burning incense and placing Buddhas by the front door for good luck, the state has no business burdening our state's builders with Eastern Mysticists writing our design standards.
3. AB 1857 Exotic Cat Declawing -Have we learned nothing from Siegfried and Roy? I admit I don't see the need to own "lions, tigers, cougars, leopards, lynxes, bobcats, caracals, ocelots, margays, servals, cheetahs, snow leopards, clouded leopards, jungle cats, leopard cats, and jaguars" in my backyard, but if I did, or my neighbor did, I'd feel better about it if they were declawed. This bill would prohibit the declawing of wild and exotic pet cats. Why? It's not like they need them to protect themselves against predator raccoons or neighbor children, and I'm pretty sure they don't need them to capture and eat water buffalo or zebra in the backyard. Another strange trip down the animal rights road...
4. AB 2193 Tanning Facilities - Originally this bill would have prohibited anyone under the age of 18 from using a tanning facility. As signed by the governor, this law will now prohibit those under 14 from using a tanning bed, and will continue to require parental consent forms for those between the ages of 14 and 18 who wish to use a tanning facility. Of course, 12-,13-,14-, 15-, 16-, and 17-year olds will continue to be able to have abortions without parental consent, but I guess that's not as big a threat to society and children's health as a fake-bake is.
5. SB 1555 Maternity Services - Had it not been vetoed by the Governor, this bill would have required that no matter how old, single, or male you are, all health insurance policies would have to cover maternity services. Of course, maternity services are currently available as an option, but this bill would have required all of us to purchase it-driving up insurance costs even higher. I've got one question for the author, Senator Speier: Does the phrase "my body, my choice" mean anything to you?
6. SB 74 Vending Machines - This bill would authorize state agencies to survey employees in state buildings that have vending machines to determine if they want healthier food in them. We already have a method to determine consumer choice---watching what they buy! If vendors think they will make more money by selling healthier snacks, they'll be happy to supply them, and it's their job to do the marketing research to figure that out. And given SB 1520, what happens if the survey shows a desire for foie gras in the vending machines?
7. AB 1723 Rest Periods - Would have allowed employers to be sued if they do not ensure that every employee takes every meal and rest period required under the law. So if an employee wanted to work through lunch to finish up a contract to keep from being fired, the boss would have to drag them kicking and screaming out of their cubicle and into a lunch room posted with armed guards, so that they didn't sneak back to their desk to accomplish something when they're supposed to be eating their peanut butter and foie gras sandwich.
8. SB 1226 State Grass - Again showing the need to have a role or a say in everything in life, the omniscient, omnipresent state legislature has decided that purple needlegrass (Nasella pulchra) should be our official "state grass". Declaring this glorified weed our state grass really proves again how far out of touch our legislature is with the broader California grass-consuming culture...
9. SB 1893 Second-hand Dealers - "Have a garage sale, go to jail." This bill would have expanded the list of "secondhand dealers" and required a host of new and higher fees to be paid by antique dealers, pawnbrokers, coin dealers, etc. Would also require a state-run electronic reporting system where every item obtained by a secondhand dealer for sale would have to be logged, along with a complete description and the fingerprints of the provider of the item. Nobody knows how a place like E-Bay would be affected by something like this, but they opposed it as well. Expensive, burdensome, pointless and nosey, this bill passed the Senate, but died in the Assembly.
10. SB 1056 Super-Centers - This bill was aimed at Wal-Mart Supercenters, and would have required an "economic impact report" to determine the effect a new store will have on existing stores and employment before it can be approved. Can you imagine government preventing any business from opening until it promises it won't out-compete or out-produce the existing stores or factories? That it would only be permitted to operate if it promised not to take sales or employees from anyone else? That would have been good for Sears and Montgomery Ward's in 1970, but not good for you, me, and the thousands of other new businesses that have out-competed them by charging lower prices over the years.
About Jim Galley
Jim Galley is a pro-homeowner community leader and is now also a candidate for San Diego City mayor.
He has been working with homeowners and has been their spokesperson in many instances with media, community leaders and lawmakers. He has helped expose the foreclosure, fraud and racketeering that is pervasive in Homeowner Associations as a result of the bad homeowner association laws (Davis-Stirling Act).
Click here to view a Fox News interview Galley did with a group of homeowners at a private home.
Homeowners reported that David Peters & Michael Kim of Peters & Freedman came into the Brook Hills gated community , and parked in front of the home of Sonni Bass taking notes. It was night time as a crowd of 25 homeowners drove into the long driveway of Sonni's 2.5 acre property. Police were summoned and Kim and Peters were told to leave.
(Sonni Bass is still fighting the Peters & Freedman lawsuit over her light which has has become another $140,000 legal fee bill over another "rules violation" bonanza lawsuits for Peters & Freedman.)
For more information on this and other homeowner association stories please contact Jim Galley or Pete Fuentes at Fox 6 News |
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