Legislative Watch: Another De-Regulation Showdown Looms

SB 16 may have been the latest deregulation bill to pass this legislature, but it won’t be the last one it considers. A new showdown could come as soon as this week over legislation that would be even worse.

HB 162 is the bill that appeared without warning on the day of the August 4 ‘special session’ (allegedly called to consider other veto overrides). It contains new devices to make it much harder to strengthen state pollution control rules. It would bar state rules stronger than federal minimums, even in the case of “serious and unforeseen threats.” It would bar rules whose costs to anyone (such as all the polluting industries rolled together) exceeded a certain arbitrary threshold, and forbid consideration of the cost savings to citizens and businesses protected from pollution in making that calculation.

Conservation advocates are gearing up now to fight this highly dangerous proposal. Watch for possible alerts soon.

Next: legislators hold public hearings this Tuesday on proposed maps >>