Proposed Bills Nit-Picky, Redundant

By midnight Sunday, Gov. Schwarzenegger will have vetoed, signed or let pass into law — by doing nothing — 965 bills that were approved by a majority of both houses of the Democrat-controlled state legislature.

These 965 bills that received enough votes to get to the governor’s desk could become 965 additional laws that some people think Californians could not live one more day without.

Understand that this is whittled down from the 5,000-plus bills that our elected representatives thought we needed badly enough that they had their staff, with the help of legislative counsel, write and put into the legislative hopper. To think that we could not live another day without the help and protection of this legislation boggles the mind.

The reason for all this legislation is that government in California has gotten so out of hand that it must now control every aspect of our lives 24 hours per day.

Do not get me wrong: Laws are necessary to protect us from violent criminals, unscrupulous individuals and to set basic standards to protect our food, water supply etc. My point is we had enough laws on the books last year to protect us from all those things without these 965 additional laws.

California has become the ultimate “nanny-state,” and it gets worse every year. Much of our legislation is laws that are written to fix the unintended consequences of previously passed laws.

Some legislation that passes may be considered a good idea, but should not be a law.

An example of that would be SB 7, which the governor signed into law and that makes it a crime to smoke in a car with anyone younger than 18. Now is it a good idea not to smoke with minors in a car? Probably, even if you do not believe all the overblown and unproven statistics about the dangers of second-hand smoke.

But is it to the level that we should have our police force and our overcrowded courts system spend the time to enforce or adjudicate it? Aren’t there enough real crimes to go after with our limited law enforcement resources?

How about AB 105, which will make it a crime if a tanning salon does not see a driver’s license or some other government document showing that the would-be tanner is 18 years of age?

You also have to be given a written warning specifying the dangers of indoor tanning.

It is already a crime to let anyone 14 to 18 tan without a signed parental/guardian written permission form. Now it will be a crime if a 40-year-old doesn’t show ID.

This law was written and passed by the same legislative body that finds it unconscionable and a grievous obstruction of your constitutional rights to ask for any identification before you walk in a voting booth.

We spend more time and money protecting people from tanning booths than we do to protect the vote of citizens not to be canceled out by someone who should not be voting.

This week I was reminded again of how our nanny-state intrudes in my life.

A friend called and said someone had dropped out of a pheasant hunting trip in South Dakota and asked if I wanted to go.

Now understand I am not really a big hunter and have hunted birds only on a couple of occasions.

But a pheasant hunting trip to South Dakota may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Like a good husband, I got permission from my wife to go. The cost was within our budget so I called the airlines to book a flight.

One problem: I don’t own a shotgun. No problem, I can go on Saturday after the Pop Warner football game where one of my daughters is a cheerleader.

I called back my friend to confirm and told him about buying the shotgun. He then let me know about the 10-day waiting/cooling-off period we have in California to buy a shotgun.

I asked if he meant a handgun, but he reiterated that it now included shotguns as well.

So here I am, a 49-year-old father of four with no criminal past (they do a criminal background check), and if I don’t leave in the next 10 minutes I will not be able get to the store, pay for a shotgun and start the 10-day clock, after which I have to come back to the store to pick it up in time to get on the plane.

Gotta run now and explain to my wife why I am going to be late for our date night.