Laws, laws, and MORE new laws in 2010 (and 2011)!
Q. Why are there so many toxic waste dumps in New Jersey and so many lawyers in California?
A. “Jersey” got first pick! 
We “talked” about the suggestion that legislative sessions should be “split” with one year focusing on a 2-year budget, and the alternate years focusing on new legislation. I wrote that the State Legislature should focus on the budget EACH YEAR and FORGET about passing new laws – we have far more laws than we need!
Now I remember why I felt that way! Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed 696 bills into law in 2009, 73% of the legislation that reached his desk, including goofy (1, 2) legislation like THIS one, that further chips away at the Second Amendment rights of Californians, but not until 2011:
Dairy farmers are now forbidden to cut the tails of cows (unless necessary to protect the health of the animal), the penalties for betting in office pools are decreased, and there are new fines for watching a dogfight and for providing a minor with nitrous oxide.
One for the animal right folks (and perhaps many of us nature lovers as well): Airports are allowed to kill birds that pose a danger to aircraft without violating state fish and game laws.
Another law creates a Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy to oversee the restoration of the failing delta ecosystem. This law is part of the larger water package. Calfornia has always been very much “about water.” My blog entry on the “water backbone” of the state, the California Aqueduct, is here.
Another law:
It looks like we have our priorities established in California!
Another:
It looks like “money talks” in California, too!
There is also a law that penalizes Paparazzi photographers:
Well, I could go on and on… but you get the idea! When I lived in Ohio, we used to laugh about the laws that were passed in Ohio in the early 1900s, like the ones about dancing on Sunday and climbing trees if you are over 12 years old. Now, living in California, I see how such laws originated! It is pretty obvious that California is a state that believes that laws influence human behavior (at least among the “law-abiding”).
Personally, I am not so sure. Many of California’s laws achieve national and international notoriety for their stupidity.
Sometimes I think that the State Legislature’s motto is, in fact, “Criminalize everybody, and let God sort them out!” Or the poor folks in law enforcement, or the Judicial System….
So tomorrow, in 2010, the rules change once more, and the game begins anew….
Happy New Year, everyone!
-Bill at
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