Kadoka High School

Kadoka, South Dakota

Teacher:  Teresa Shuck

Government As Regulator

By:  Melissa Porch

11^th grade

Government regulation is needed in our country, because otherwise there would be no laws, or certain ways of doing things that are set in stone.  In today’s society there is too much regulation.  There are certain cases where the government has stepped in and it wasn’t any of their business as to what was going on. When they were stepping in and doing regulative things, such as, banning skate-boarders, shutting down a braiding shop because a fifteen year old owns it, or the Governmental Affairs Committee spending most of its time overseeing the procedures of the federal bureaucracy.  These things are considered as legitimate regulations, but in these cases the Government stepped in and regulated too much. 

The government should be able to decide what over-regulates government regulation, but in some cases maybe they don’t realize that they are over-regulating.  When they watch over those operations, they spend millions of dollars on security, and they spend millions of dollars on improvements of highways.  In some cases, regulating may be good; when the Government steps in and starts spending millions of dollars on regulating things that really aren’t that big of a concern in our society today, then they may be taking it too far.

In a number of states and local places, skateboards are being banned from public places. The bungee-jumpers are not able to bungee-jump, because the government thinks that it is too dangerous.  The whitewater-rafting companies and rock-climbing schools are being forced to get tougher regulations, and even roller-bladers are receiving fines for roller-blading in public places because they were neither a car nor a pedestrian, but because they were a combination of the two.  In the town of Charlestown, Indiana it is now illegal to play hopscotch, soccer, baseball or basketball in streets, alleys or even sidewalks. If people disobey this law they are slapped with a $100 fine.  The Government has made regulations so strict that kids can’t even play a game on a sidewalk.  Wouldn’t you agree that this is going a bit too far?

Monique Landers is a fifteen-year-old girl, whom after starting her own small business in hair braiding, was shut down on account of the fact that she didn’t have a cosmetology license.  She had returned home from New York, where she was honored as one of five Outstanding High School Entrepreneurs, and to find that her shop had been shut down by the state of Kansas.  Monique states in the column that, “The Board won’t let me earn my own money, and won’t let kids like me learn how to take care of ourselves.”  She says that few schools even teach how to braid, and if they did teach it that none of them would take her in at least until she was seventeen years of age.  Why should the government shut down this girls business, because she’s only fifteen years old, or because of another reason?  She wasn’t hurting anyone, or anything, so why shut her down?  In this case, the government regulated just a little too much. 

The Governmental Affairs Committee spends most of its time watching over the federal bureaucracy, such as, computer and accounting operations, and also over the collection of data.  When they do this, they are spending millions of dollars on the equipment to watch over these operations.  When the Government is spending this money on stuff like this, it could cause a real problem in our society.  The cost of regulations is making the people suffer in order to obey these regulations.  Some people don’t even agree with all of the regulations that go on, but they have to pay at least a little bit of their income just so that the Governmental Affairs Committee can watch over the federal bureaucracy. 

Having too much regulation is not fair to our society; because of the tax dollars it costs the people to support some of these regulations that can cost quite a bit of the money that they earned through many long hours of working.  Even though they don’t possibly agree with it, the government requires that they pay taxes, and these tax dollars are the funds that support the regulations.  Government regulation is definitely needed in today’s society, but some of the regulations may be hurting the people by making them pay money just to fix something that perhaps would have been fine if left alone.  Some regulations are just a waste of money, while others are much needed.  In today’s society, there is too much government regulation that is not needed to make our society better.

Q1.    What is the only way to prevent hijackers from gaining control of an airplane according

to the unknown author?

Answer:  The unknown author thinks that the only way to prevent hijackers from gaining control of an airplane is to harden the cockpit, so that no shorts of explosives may get in and no one may enter. There would have to be a slot so that they can get food in, a mini-lav for the crew, and secure walls and doors.

Q2.      What are the arguments given by lobbyists for the Bells in favor of HR 1542 (Tauzin-Dingell Bill) and arguments given by their opponents against this legislation?
CQ May 5 p 1012

Answer:  Arguments given by lobbyists for the Bells in favor of HR 1542, are that the US Telecom Association argues that its members need regulatory relief to compete with cable television companies and other high-speed Internet providers.  The AT&T Corporation contends that the Tauzin-Dingell bill would give the Bells a stranglehold on high-speed Internet service, and delay the development of next-generation Web technology.

Q3.      Why do small-business groups like HR 1831? From the small amount of information presented in your required reading, do you think the legislation is a good idea? Why?
CQ May 19 p. 1161

Answer:  Small-business groups like HR 1831 because it is aimed at protecting businesses that have not significantly harmed the environment from being sued by large polluters that want to recover some of their government-mandated cleanup costs.  The bill specifies that if a polluter wants to seek payments from a business that has been exempted from government cleanup requirements, the burden of proof is on the company trying to recover costs. That company must prove the smaller business failed to meet the conditions for exemption.  Yes, I think that HR 1831 is a good idea, because the larger polluters would be required to cleanup, and it would make for a cleaner environment.

Q4.      Give an argument in favor of government regulating activities such as roller blading and bungee jumping.
Governing, March 1993 p 23

Answer:  Government should not regulate activities such as rollerblading and bungee jumping because they are not causing any trouble, and why take away something from some kids that hope to become something in that event someday.  Some do it for fun and then you’d take it away, and then you’re taking something away from them, and it may be the only thing that they have to look forward to.  Maybe it’s a way for them to get out of the house and forget all of their troubles, and then somebody would take them away, and they wouldn’t have anything to clear their minds. 

Q5.      Define a “burden hour.”
CQ ‘April 28 p. 896

Answer:  A burden hour is supposed to measure the time it takes to collect data and fill out federal forms, surveys and reports.

Q6       Why was Connecticut Senator, Joseph Lieberman, concerned enough to vote against the nomination of Professor John Graham as administrator of the office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the current Bush administration?
CQ May 26 p 1229

Answer:  Because he is someone who will use a patina of science to block government rules needed to protect Americans from health, safety, and environmental hazards.

Q6a.    Graham is a proponent of “risk analysis.”  How is risk analysis defined on page 992 of the May 5, 2001 issue of Congressional Quarterly Weekly?

Answer:  Risk analysis calculates the likelihood of a hazard against the costs and benefits of preventing it.

Q6b.    Who was the first president to order federal agencies to weigh potential costs and benefits when writing a rule?
CQ May5 2001 p 993

Answer:  Jimmy Carter was the first president to order federal agencies to weigh potential costs and benefits.

Q6.      How much would compliance with OSHA’s regulations to limit injuries or disabilities from performing repetitive tasks cost according to an estimate by business groups as reported in the 2000 CQ Almanac?   What was the response of OSHA and Labor Department officials? 
CQ Almanac p 2-111

Answer:  It ranges from about $14 billion to $80 billion a year.  They say that the rule is intended to be flexible and would not require most companies to act, they also say that the rule would also save them $9 billion a year in lost productivity.    

Q7.      What was the makeup of the “iron triangle” during the Reagan years and what do environmentalists and consumer activists foresee as its composition in the current Bush administration?
CQ May 5 p 990

Answer:  An unbreakable alliance among Democratic committee chairmen, agency officials, and interest groups that worked in concert to achieve common goals, whether it was funding for special projects or protecting specific constituencies.  During the current Bush administration, environmentalists and consumer activists say that they fear the formation of a new triad-composed of industry officials, the White House and GOP committee chairmen, agency officials and interest groups that worked in concert to achieve common goals, whether it was funding for special projects or protecting specific constituencies.

Q8.      Name 5 actions of the Bush administration that have drawn criticism from Environmentalists.
CQ May 5, 2001 p. 994 and 995

Answer:  He signed a legislation to kill a Clinton ergonomics rule opposed by many major business groups, who argued that it would cost too much to implement.  He has also signaled his intention to reverse or revise Clinton regulations, including one to toughen cleanup standards for hardrock mining operations.  He also stoked public criticism by reneging on a campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide.  He also rejected the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.  He also reversed a Clinton rule to reduce the levels of arsenic in drinking water, the rule would have lowered the amount of arsenic permitted in drinking water to 10 parts per billion from 50 parts per billion.

Q9.      What did the executive order issued by Ronald Reagan in 1981 and still in effect today, requires agencies to prove before new regulations were enacted? How did the Democratic House counter in 1986?
CQ May 5, 2001 p. 995

Answer:  Reagan beefed up the agency’s oversight power by issuing an executive order in 1981 that required agencies to prove that a regulation’s benefits would “outweigh” its costs.  The Democratic-controlled house forced a showdown by deleting funds for OMB’s regulatory division from the fiscal 1987 budget.

Q10.    On the average, how long does it take to build an airport?  A highway?
CQ May 19, 2001 p 1163

Answer:  On average it takes at least 15 years to build an airport, and 12 to build a highway.

Q11.    Discuss the pros and cons of licensing requirements.
Wall Street Journal June 18, 1993

Answer:  Some pros on licensing requirements are that this would save from lots of unnecessary businesses opening up their own stores wherever they want, it would also keep a lot of illegal things from possibly happening.  Some cons on the issue, would be, that you couldn’t open a business unless someone thought that you had the right to it, some people may think it is dumb but others may not think it is so dumb, and so maybe they wouldn’t let you open it up but others would really like it to be opened up.

Q12.    Discuss the pros and cons of master plans and planning departments.
Taking A Stand On Regulation pp 80-82

Answer:  The pros about master plans and planning departments is that they lay down an exact plan of how they would like the object to look.  They show all of it in detail, and this is nice to see.  The cons of master plans and planning departments are that in some cases, they are not all laid out exactly right, or to scale, and this sometimes makes it difficult to construct.  Sometimes it doesn’t show where it is going to stand, such as what landmarks or places they may have to take down to construct this building, or object.

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