What's Next for California?

[California]

On the news tonight they banned plastic water bottles at the San Fran Airport if I head it right.

There's some history behind that, that isn't obvious: City of San Francisco government long ago dammed a beautiful valley adjacent to Yosemite, really a second Yosemite Valley, and ran a water line direct to SF. They won't share this pristine quality water with any of the cities along the way, or adjacent to SF. So there have been proposals at various times to ban third-party water dispensers (Nestle, Alhambra, etc) in city owned facilities since SF tapwater is better quality. Sounds like this got extended to the airport. So bring your own reusable water bottle and fill it at a fountain after Security (where a purchased water bottle would be confiscated by TSA).

 

[ptsg]

I can tell you a helmet saved my life, and that's a fact..

But I'm sure you weren't going over 70 MPH, right?

I'm all in favor of helmets. It saved the life of so many people over here. But of course, over a certain speed, it won't make much difference.

 

[Diggin It]

that's exactly what people need. Government mandating what people need, can do, or should have.

Some states are more free than others.

I showed you on another thread that Dixie isn't as free as many think it is. In some ways, it's far more restrictive on what people can think or believe, or not believe. In some ways, it's almost draconian in ways CA would never even consider.

What I don't get is why city folk move to the country and then try to bring their city laws with them. One guy in town here has run a junkyard for decades. City people moved in and began pressuring the county government to make the guy spend thousands of dollars to fence his property to hide the stuff they knew was there before they bought their place. Money he didn't have but didn't have a choice on because he couldn't afford to have all the stuff hauled away either.

How many of us here on this forum burn wood for heat? How many of us that do know that others can't by law? Or that some are only allowed to do it if they have certain expensive stoves and meet other limitations?

Do we really know all of our own state laws? We know how to get by in most cases, but if a state, any state wanted to get on us, they could, no matter where we live. The grass isn't always greener no matter what kind of glasses we choose to look through.

 

[Jstpssng]

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems if my garage door won't open and that's the only thing keeping me from dying I wouldn't have a problem. Bumpers are on trucks for a reason.

 

[SimS]

My wife got out of the garage once without a door opener. And there wasn't even a forest fire. I forget the exact distraction but it made sense to her. And that's all that mattered.

SimS

 

[check]

I'll be the devil's advocate and state that a lot of good legislation in North America got a push from actions in California. The best example that I can think of was the state-wide ban on smoking in restaurants introduced in 1995.

Based on the rationale explained in the news release posted at the end of my message, the garage door opener issue doesn't seem a bad idea. I do wonder how many of the systems will fail to operate on battery power some years into the future, though.

Most new garage door openers have DC motors now, so once batteries are mandatory the additional cost will eventually be not much more than the cost of the inexpensive battery (right now it seems that the openers with that one option also have all the other costly options - just like how vehicles are sold).

A large percentage of people wouldn't be able to open a garage door manually in a power outage:
-Release handle too high for them or is missing.
-Can't reach the handle because of the vehicle parked underneath.
-Door springs improperly tensioned to allow the door to be lifted manually.
-And the most common reason "I didn't know that there was a way to operate the door manually".

There was a lot of resistance to the introduction of safety reversing sensors, but most of us recognize that they have value even though they're a pain sometimes. The previous owners of our house apparently thought otherwise since when we moved in the sensors were mounted to the top of the opener facing each other.

Chris



LONG BEACH, Calif., April 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- California has recently had its most destructive fire season with widespread power outages that made it difficult and or impossible for some to escape. With the loss of electricity, garage door openers were impacted and deaths were attributed to homeowners becoming trapped and who perished because they could not open their garage doors manually.

Reports from the 2017 Northern California fires recounted stories of neighbors stopping to help raise garage doors for elderly people who didn't have the strength to manually open their garage door, and a mother who struggled to get her disabled son into a car because their custom van was in the garage they couldn't open.

On September 1, 2018 Governor Brown signed SB 969 into law. This legislation requires newly sold or installed garage door openers in residential applications to have battery backup up in the state of California.

California SB 969 Facts

• The law goes into effect July 1, 2019.
• The law applies to all new garage doors and garage door opener installations.
• Homeowners must install a battery backup opener when a new door is installed or when they replace their existing opener.
• Existing openers in use will not have to be replaced with battery backup openers unless the door is being replaced.
• On or after July 1, 2019 no person, corporation, or entity shall manufacture for sale in this state, sell, offer for sale at retail or wholesale, or install in the state of California a residential automatic garage door opener that does not a have battery backup function that is designed to operate when activated because of an electrical outage.

Good posr, Chris. Very informative.

 

[KennyG]

Maybe this is the inevitable direction of our society, but I can't see why everyone has to buy a battery backup opener because a limited number of people can't open the door manually. It's great that backups are available for people who want/need them, but I would hate to have to buy one for my shed. With California being so environmentally concerned, how many useless batteries are now going to be required?

 

[3Ts]

. . . With California being so environmentally concerned, how many useless batteries are now going to be required?

Are they recyclable and what is the environmental impact of the recycling? Typically, the government does not consider the entire chain of events when they make laws.

 

[kenmac]

No, if you screw up on a motorcycle you become dependent on the taxpayers to support you for the rest of your life like Ayn Rand.

Perhaps not. I have insurance. I paid into disability. So If I have to go on disability.
The government took my money without asking. So, it would be time for them to pony up.

There are very few cases where a helmet saved a life in a motorcycle wreck.

 

[kenmac]

I showed you on another thread that Dixie isn't as free as many think it is. In some ways, it's far more restrictive on what people can think or believe, or not believe. In some ways, it's almost draconian in ways CA would never even consider.

Oh no, I didn't mean we were free, there are states more free than us. But, we are more free than CA.

These republicans that have controlled our state house and senate want to rule over you just as much as the Democrats

These republicans want to say who can and can't get married.
I don't give a rats AZZ if you marry your dog, cat, bird, etc,.

The Right wing and the Left wing belong to the same bird

 

[California]

how many useless batteries are now going to be required?

... or else a garage door opener manufacturer has a first rate lobbyist! Sometimes that's the simplest explanation.

A while back corncobs were shipped here by rail and big expensive conversion plants were built, to make Ethanol within the state. No way was that economically rational, it was simply a subsidy to benefit midwest corporate ag that had very effective lobbyists.

 

[3Ts]

No, if you screw up on a motorcycle you become dependent on the taxpayers to support you for the rest of your life like Ayn Rand.

??? from Wkikpedia - and "Atlas Shrugged" is a good story by itself but also is a commentary on those who work and those who don't.

Ayn Rand - Wikipedia

Rand died of heart failure on March 6, 1982, at her home in New York City,[101] and was interred in the Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, New York.[102]

 

[Jstpssng]

??? from Wkikpedia - and "Atlas Shrugged" is a good story by itself but also is a commentary on those who work and those who don't.

Ayn Rand - Wikipedia

Rand died of heart failure on March 6, 1982, at her home in New York City,[101] and was interred in the Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, New York.[102]

He confused me with that comment also. The only thing which a search turned up was a "Snopes" article slamming her for collecting SS later in life; consistent with critics who tell us that it's an "entitlement" to collect from a fund which we've been forced to pay into all of our lives.

Wearing a helmet may or may not save lives; however, California's argument has never made sense to me as wearing it may save your live but will also increase your chance of a permanent debilitating injury resulting in just what he describes.

 

[k0ua]

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems if my garage door won't open and that's the only thing keeping me from dying I wouldn't have a problem. Bumpers are on trucks for a reason.

I was wondering the same thing. I don't think most garage doors would stand up to most vehicles with even a 2 foot run at it.

 

[California]

My comparison to Ayn Rand was because she derided as 'parasites' anyone who used public assistance, and she argued against establishing social programs which were controversial at the time they were first enacted. Then late in life she came to need what she had earlier argued against.

I don't know if her situation was as dire as a motorcyclist left to die in the gutter but both cases illustrate the value of shared risk - ie insurance, or taxes for the common good, instead of relying solely on personal resources at all times as she had advocated for so long.

 

[stuckmotor]

I've never owned a small engine that's fumes burned my eyes as much as the one that's California legal.

 

[Jstpssng]

My comparison to Ayn Rand was because she derided as 'parasites' anyone who used public assistance, and she argued against establishing social programs which were controversial at the time they were first enacted. Then late in life she came to need what she had earlier argued against.

I don't know if her situation was as dire as a motorcyclist left to die in the gutter but both cases illustrate the value of shared risk - ie insurance, or taxes for the common good, instead of relying solely on personal resources at all times as she had advocated for so long.

As I pointed out above; why shouldn't somebody who is forced to pay into the SS program all of their life not collect from it when they get older? If it's such an entitlement then we should put it all into the General Fund and only pay out to the people who have never worked for a living.

 

[KennyG]

Snopes has a pretty good summary of Ayn Rand and Social Security.

Did Ayn Rand Receive Social Security Benefits?

She opposed mandatory SS and Medicare programs. However, she defended taking benefits from mandated social programs as "restitution".

 

[Diggin It]

Y'alls gonna get me into my insurance rant again, ain't ya? SS is insurance. They're betting you don't live long enough to collect it.

 

[kenmac]

As far as a helmet saving a person's life in the case of motorcycle crash.
My son is a paramedic. He says he rarely sees a case where a helmet would have saved a life of the cyclist in the event of a crash

As far as SS/disability being government assistance. I was forced to pay in to this government system. Therefore, I don't consider it government assistance. I'm receiving the money my government stole from me since I began working at 16

Think of those that never received one cent of their money the government stole, because they died before being able to collect

IMO, The term ''Government assistance'' applies those persons than have never been forced to pay into the system, yet receive the benefits that others were forced to pay... IE, The lazy, the Illegals, and those that were born with a condition that renders them unable to work