Deregulation a theme of this legislative session

In 2012, William J. Moran, who was in town from Rhode Island, died of carbon monoxide poisoning in a South Charleston hotel because a swimming pool heater was improperly installed. Last year the Legislature passed a law requiring licenses for people who install heating, ventilating and cooling systems.

In 2014, an aboveground storage tank leaked about 10,000 gallons of a coal-cleaning chemical into the Elk River and contaminated the Kanawha Valleys water system. A few months later, the Legislature passed a law to regulate and inspect aboveground storage tanks.

In 2010, Wilbert Ray Starcher was killed in a Greenbrier County coal mine when he was run over by a shuttle car. The driver couldnt see him because his view was blocked by metal sideboards, which had been added to the car in violation of West Virginia law.

The 2015 Republican-controlled Legislature has attempted to roll back or repeal all of these laws, as deregulation has become a broader theme of the legislative session. The changes to the aboveground storage tank law had overwhelming bipartisan support, and the changes to mine safety had limited Democratic support.

A cornerstone of the Republican Party is allowing the free market to control, and free businesses and citizens up from unnecessary and burdensome regulations, said state Republican Party Chairman Conrad Lucas, adding that reasonable people would disagree on what is unnecessary and burdensome.

Regulations, as a generic concept, are never popular. A 2014 Gallup poll found that about half of Americans said there is too much regulation of business, while less than a quarter said there is too little.

But every individual regulation was once put into place for a reason: be it poor HVAC work proving deadly, a water contamination affecting 300,000 or the preventable death of a coal miner.

The question legislators are tackling now is whether the regulations on the books remain reasonable. Im pretty speechless, however we need to speak about it because I have never seen anything like it, said state Democratic Party Chairwoman Belinda Biafore of the legislative agenda. I think its a sad day in West Virginia, especially for working-class families.

Some of the Legislatures deregulatory push has been in the cause of enhancing personal freedom, potentially at the expense of public health and safety. The Legislature has moved to roll back or repeal smoking bans in casinos and video-slot parlors, regulations on the sale of raw milk and regulations on who can carry a concealed weapon in West Virginia.

Some of the deregulation has come with (highly debated) promises that it will lead to job growth.

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Deregulation a theme of this legislative session