mark handler
SAWHORSE
Tuesday, Apr. 03, 2012
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2012/04/03/2754124/issac-j-bailey-overbearing-regulation.html
Issac J. Bailey | Overbearing regulation needs to be changed
By Issac J. By Bailey - A Different Perspective
Horry County maybe at the apex of a curious case of two sides agreeing but still not seeming to come up with a workable solution to a problem everyone wants to solve.
Horry County has more active public swimming pools than any other county in South Carolina – 2,383 in all – each of which is subject to a new regulation under the American with Disabilities Act.
That regulation mandates that every pool, lazy river and hot tub must have a fixed pool lift, which for some establishments means the purchase of multiple lifts that can cost at least $3,000. There is a less expensive option, portable lifts that can be called into action when a handicapped person needs one, but for some reason that is neither enough for government regulators nor advocates for handicapped access.
A disabled person would have to call an employee to move a portable lift in place and “wait for five minutes or however long for that person to get free” David Zoellner, managing attorney for Protection and Advocacy for People with Disabilities in Charleston, told my colleague for a story last week.
So the choice is between maybe making a disabled person wait five minutes or so to get an employee to assist him or possibly adding thousands – maybe tens of thousands – of dollars in extra expenses for businesses, many of whom have been hit hard by the 2008 recession from which we all are still trying to recover.
And that doesn’t even include what should be another obvious consideration. Does it make sense to force a business to buy permanent, expensive equipment that maybe used only a handful of times a year?
The disabled should have equal access to public accommodations, including swimming pools, lazy rivers and hot tubs. For that reason alone, the ADA is a worthy law. It has improved the lives of many.
No one is arguing against that point. The question is how best to address the needs and rights of the disabled and businesses.
The solution should be effective – allowing the disabled to enjoy amenities the rest of us do – but not overbearing on those whose livelihoods could be unnecessarily imperiled by regulations that go too far or are not well thought out.
The portable lifts meet both tests; the permanent lifts meet only one.
It shouldn’t be hard to figure out which way to go.
Inflexible regulations such as these are the kinds that make people more suspicious of government over-reach and less likely to support wise, necessary regulation.
That’s what makes this issue so fraught with peril, because it undermines a system that improves all our lives.
Government regulation in and of itself is not bad. In fact, many economists and financial experts said we did not have the right kinds of regulations in place to have prevented the 2008 financial economic collapse.
And some regulations make the marketplace more efficient and save businesses time, money and energy. A few years ago, area gas stations happily submitted to – even asked for – uniform guidelines that forced customers to either pay for their gas at the pump or pay for it in advance inside the store. That regulation did a variety of things. It kept the marketplace fair, because had a store that had been experiencing a string of drive-offs implemented the policy on its own, it would instantly be at a disadvantage to the store across the street which didn’t because it wasn’t as affected by drive-offs.
It was not overbearing as many stores were moving in that direction any way.
And it saved taxpayers money. Instead of having the cops chase people who drive off without paying for a tank of gas, they have instead been able to focus on more serious crime.
Sensible regulations make our lives better in a variety of ways.
But overbearing ones can undermine the entire system.
Contact ISSAC J. BAILEY at 626-0357.
Read more here: http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2012/04/03/2754124/issac-j-bailey-overbearing-regulation.html#storylink=cpy
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2012/04/03/2754124/issac-j-bailey-overbearing-regulation.html
Issac J. Bailey | Overbearing regulation needs to be changed
By Issac J. By Bailey - A Different Perspective
Horry County maybe at the apex of a curious case of two sides agreeing but still not seeming to come up with a workable solution to a problem everyone wants to solve.
Horry County has more active public swimming pools than any other county in South Carolina – 2,383 in all – each of which is subject to a new regulation under the American with Disabilities Act.
That regulation mandates that every pool, lazy river and hot tub must have a fixed pool lift, which for some establishments means the purchase of multiple lifts that can cost at least $3,000. There is a less expensive option, portable lifts that can be called into action when a handicapped person needs one, but for some reason that is neither enough for government regulators nor advocates for handicapped access.
A disabled person would have to call an employee to move a portable lift in place and “wait for five minutes or however long for that person to get free” David Zoellner, managing attorney for Protection and Advocacy for People with Disabilities in Charleston, told my colleague for a story last week.
So the choice is between maybe making a disabled person wait five minutes or so to get an employee to assist him or possibly adding thousands – maybe tens of thousands – of dollars in extra expenses for businesses, many of whom have been hit hard by the 2008 recession from which we all are still trying to recover.
And that doesn’t even include what should be another obvious consideration. Does it make sense to force a business to buy permanent, expensive equipment that maybe used only a handful of times a year?
The disabled should have equal access to public accommodations, including swimming pools, lazy rivers and hot tubs. For that reason alone, the ADA is a worthy law. It has improved the lives of many.
No one is arguing against that point. The question is how best to address the needs and rights of the disabled and businesses.
The solution should be effective – allowing the disabled to enjoy amenities the rest of us do – but not overbearing on those whose livelihoods could be unnecessarily imperiled by regulations that go too far or are not well thought out.
The portable lifts meet both tests; the permanent lifts meet only one.
It shouldn’t be hard to figure out which way to go.
Inflexible regulations such as these are the kinds that make people more suspicious of government over-reach and less likely to support wise, necessary regulation.
That’s what makes this issue so fraught with peril, because it undermines a system that improves all our lives.
Government regulation in and of itself is not bad. In fact, many economists and financial experts said we did not have the right kinds of regulations in place to have prevented the 2008 financial economic collapse.
And some regulations make the marketplace more efficient and save businesses time, money and energy. A few years ago, area gas stations happily submitted to – even asked for – uniform guidelines that forced customers to either pay for their gas at the pump or pay for it in advance inside the store. That regulation did a variety of things. It kept the marketplace fair, because had a store that had been experiencing a string of drive-offs implemented the policy on its own, it would instantly be at a disadvantage to the store across the street which didn’t because it wasn’t as affected by drive-offs.
It was not overbearing as many stores were moving in that direction any way.
And it saved taxpayers money. Instead of having the cops chase people who drive off without paying for a tank of gas, they have instead been able to focus on more serious crime.
Sensible regulations make our lives better in a variety of ways.
But overbearing ones can undermine the entire system.
Contact ISSAC J. BAILEY at 626-0357.
Read more here: http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2012/04/03/2754124/issac-j-bailey-overbearing-regulation.html#storylink=cpy
