Overall the legislature is moving in the wrong direction from a free market or broadly libertarian perspective, with a focus on more spending and more regulations of businesses. It wouldn’t even occur to the Democrats at the capitol to view the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) as establishing a ceiling on spending rather than a floor. To them, TABOR is something to evade and escape, not something to respect and protect.
Still, the legislature does consider some pro-liberty bills sometimes. Here I want to discuss three such proposals. I’m discussing only proposals that have a serious chance of passing through the Democrat-controlled legislature, so I’m skipping, for example (aside from this mention), HB26-1021, the “Second Amendment Protection Act” by Brandi Bradley and Max Brooks.
Free the tamales
The so-called “tamale bill,” House Bill 26-1033, from Reps. Ryan Gonzalez and Monica Duran, would update “the Colorado Cottage Foods Act to include the sale of homemade foods that require refrigeration and includes meat products, such as tamales,” Duran told Sherrie Peif of Complete Colorado.
According to the bill summary, “A producer of a food . . . that requires time and temperature control must take a food safety course that includes food handling training . . . and acquire and maintain proof of course completion.” I’m not sure that’s too helpful, but it’s probably also not too onerous.
Also: “The bill removes the $10,000 cap on net revenues that a producer can earn under the CCFA.”
Notably, under existing language of the statute (25-4-1614), a customer must be “informed that the product is not licensed, regulated, or inspected.” That’s fair. There’s also nothing about this that limits potential lawsuits. I say free the tamales!
Free the housing
If you respect property rights, then you agree property owners normally properly have the right to build housing on their property. House Bill 26-1001, the Housing Opportunities Made Easier or HOME Act, better-recognizes property rights. Basically the bill rolls back some local restrictions on housing development for various nonprofits (including churches), universities, and some governmental entities.
In a December media release, Governor Jared Polis said the proposal is about “unleashing the free market to build more homes Coloradans can afford.” Bill sponsor Rep. Andy Boesenecker said in the release, “The HOME Act . . . will empower community organizations and schools to build affordable housing on their land that is often underutilized and centrally located. By reducing barriers, cutting red tape and leveraging existing land, we can help address Colorado’s housing shortfall by spurring the creation of affordable housing that is located where people live, work and play.”
My only complaint is that the bill does not go far enough, but it’s a good start.
I especially appreciate Senator Julie Gonzales, another bill sponsor, taking to heart a criticism I raised last year about a similar proposal, the so-called “Yes In God’s Back Yard” bill, HB25-1169. Although I appreciated that the bill better-recognized the rights of some, I pointed out that it was needlessly restricted to religious nonprofits. That created problems of disparate treatment based on ideology, I pointed out. The new bill resolves that issue.
The blunt fact is that my wife and I, who bought our house following the mortgage meltdown of 2007, would struggle to afford to live in our neighborhood, or indeed in Colorado, if we were in the market to buy a house today. We need more housing, and this bill is a step in the right direction.
Protect people from federal abuses
I know some of my conservative friends will resist my recommendation here, but those who take the Constitution, including the Bill of Rights, seriously, will judge the bill at hand on its merits, not based on tribal partisanship.
I am talking about Senate Bill 26-005, “Rights Violation in Immigration Enforcement Remedy.” Here is the summary: “The bill creates a statutory cause of action for a person who is injured during a civil immigration enforcement action by another person who, whether or not under color of law, violates the United States constitution while participating in civil immigration enforcement. A person who violates the United States constitution while participating in civil immigration enforcement is liable to the injured party for legal or equitable relief or any other appropriate relief.”
The principle is simple: Federal agents who violate people’s rights should bear some legal responsibility for their actions. I also encourage local prosecutors to bring charges against any federal agent who violates someone’s rights, but that’s not a legislative matter.
The main problem with this bill is that it applies only to one type of federal agent, one especially hated by today’s left (even though Democrats such as Barack Obama also used ICE to deport loads of people). The prime sponsors of the bill are some of the hardest-left legislators: Sen. Mike Weissman, Sen. Julie Gonzales, Rep. Javier Mabrey, and Rep. Yara Zokaie.
If the bill instead referred to all federal agents, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the Environmental Protection Agency; and the Internal Revenue Service, maybe more conservatives could see their way to supporting the effort. After all, this country has seen its share of outrageously abusive enforcement, especially of gun laws. And it’s not hard to imagine a future Democratic administration that encourages abusive enforcement of whatever it ideologically favors.
To me, this represents an easy amendment for Republicans to propose.
Take victories where you can
With Democrats firmly in control of state government and much of the Republican Party swirling into the gutters, these are tough times for those who care about fiscal responsibility and the freedom to do business. But many Democrats are sensitive to people’s rights in important contexts, and libertarians and free-market conservatives should cheer them on where appropriate, encourage Democrats to be more consistently rights-protecting, and seek their victories where they can.
Ari Armstrong writes regularly for Complete Colorado and is the author of books about Ayn Rand, Harry Potter, and classical liberalism. He can be reached at ari at ariarmstrong dot com.
