I guess this blog post is aimed squarely at GOP State Senators Sam Aanastad, Tom Harman, and Abel Maldonado. You see, these are the only Republicans who voted for a piece of legislation that, in essence, bans the use of cell phones and PDAs of 16 an 17 year old drivers while they are operating a car.
My question is this… Would they also vote for legislation that would ban ANY driver, regardless of age, from doing this? My guess is probably not. (Well, Aanastad did vote last year to require that all drivers must use earpieces or speaker phones). How about legislation to prohibit the changing of a radio station? Or maybe we should make it a crime to talk to a passenger while driving? Hey, how about an infraction if a minor driving a vehicle is eating while driving?
The reality is that, once again, state law is being used to impose restrictions on our children when it should be parents that are responsible for the actions of their kids.
If legislators want to have a serious discussion about whether to raise the legal age to drive to eighteen, then have that conversation. In the meantime, passing more of these "Nanny State" laws just burdens our local law enforcement officers with a job that belongs to parents.
Thank you to the rest of the Senate GOP caucus for voting no on this dumb bill.
This bill is coming up for a vote in the State Assembly sooner than later. I have no doubt that the Democrats who dominate that chamber will place it on the Governor’s desk. I only hope that a resolved Assembly GOP Caucus will send a strong message to the Governor — this legislation places government, instead of parents, in the role of governing the behavior of their children.
This bill is a likely candidate for our annual "Top twenty bills for the Governor to veto" list…
[We’ll report back to you on the final Assembly vote, where we can only hope for a party-line vote. Democrats are just too comfortable with replacing mom and dad with government regulations.]
June 13th, 2007 at 12:00 am
I know I have said this before but there seems to be a theme for almost all the legislation that is coming out of the dems this term and that theme is to criminalize ordinary citizens. This is far more insidious than some realize especially when you begin to notice the pattern. It is a attempt to give more and more power to the state while destroying individual liberty. This is how most latin american dictators criminalize their citizens before reaching for absolute power. Don’t be surprised if we hear a cry from the left for the state to begin running energy concerns and utilities soon. This is usually the second step to socialist manifestos.