NFIB

A Rat's Tale of Regulation
04/06/2004

NFIB/Arizona submitted the following letter to the editor of Arizona Republic in response to its March 31 editorial on our state's regulatory madness. Although the letter was not printed, we include it here for your information, followed by an online link to the editorial itself.

Editor, your March 31 rat's tale editorial was right on the mark. But far from being the end of the tale on our state's regulatory nuttiness, it is only the beginning.

Even though the Arizona Structural Pest Control Commission reversed itself on its punitive persecution of a 17-year-old boy whose only crime was to assist homeowners in combating their roof rats, the agency still has at its disposal a variety of laws -- and the inspectors to enforce them -- such as the one prohibiting landscapers from spraying weeds with that well-known contraband, Round Up, unless they have a license "to kill." The humor in this rapidly fades when other such instances are added. For example, the legislature briefly entertained the notion to license interior designers in an effort to weed out "dolly decorators" from "true" interior designers. Such has become our state's particular licensing madness.

What needs to be understood is that a license doesn't make you better, brighter, more law-abiding, or elevate your professionalism. A person's performance, reputation, knowledge, and record do. Smart business people know what education and continuing education they need. They also know how to convey that to their customers in a way no license could. The bottom line is that the licensing craze creates barriers to entering professions. It does not improve them.

Michelle Bolton
Arizona State Director

Rat's tale