The George Report

Too much government, too little compassion

January 2010 commentary by state Rep. Camille "Bud" George, D-74 of Clearfield County

At this rate, my supply of bile is going to be exhausted by February.

The latest numbskull news to hit my radar is that a regulation that will go into effect in 12 months will require sprinkler systems in all single-family homes built after Jan. 1, 2011.

Can we first try to see to it that more of our citizens have decent, affordable housing and potable water before jacking up the costs of new housing by many thousands of dollars?

 In our region, water is in short supply, and much of it is ruined by unregulated mining practices of the past. I spend a tremendous amount of time and energy trying to secure clean water for people to drink and bathe.

Too many people are hanging by a thread trying to hang onto their homes. Foreclosures and sheriff sales are far too common as we dig out from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

The sprinkler mandate is an offshoot of the Uniform Construction Code, which I voted against 10 years ago as too intrusive and expensive.  I tried to warn others about the harms it would cause, but some people are a few shingles shy of a roof when it comes to common sense.

The road to a bad place is indeed paved with good intentions. In a perfect world, it might make sense to consider such a regulation. However, I’ve never lived in such a place. The regulation might make a bit more sense if it were limited to multi-family homes built where public water is available.

I know I walk a fine line here. I have a big enough libertarian streak in me to recoil when I see government over-reaching. I don’t want government to tell people to turn on their headlights when their wipers are in use. It should be common sense.

Government seems intent on rushing into hornets’ nests but away from  where help is needed urgently. We have bureaucrats devising rules regulating wood-burners. I relish personal freedoms. Yet, I also know I’d be buzzing like a hornet if someone was burning stinky, smoky skunkwood just a few feet from my door step. I don’t have the answer to this issue, and I’m darn sure state government doesn’t, either.

At the same time, the state Public Utility Commission reported that more than 17,000 Pennsylvania households were entering the winter season without heat-related utility service – up from 14,372 reported last December. When you add the number of people with empty fuel tanks, you have a lot of cold Pennsylvanians.

Instead of dickering with rules on sprinkler systems and wood-burning stoves, perhaps we should focus on ways to keep that older family living on a fixed income down the road from everyone – folks who worked all their lives – warm this winter.

Instead, restrictions on the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program – LIHEAP – were ratcheted up severely this season. This week, folks in eastern Pennsylvania began paying as much as 30 percent more for electricity – the same calamity due to hit us at this time next year – under deregulation.

We’re never going to run out of problems. The perfect world doesn’t exist in this realm. However, is it too much to ask to prioritize how we tackle them?

I’d better pace myself. It’s only January.

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