PORTLAND, Maine — Small-business owners and industry lobbyists told the state what’s wrong with its regulation of business at a meeting Friday afternoon.
The Maine Regulatory Fairness Board hosted the forum at the Portland Public Library on Congress Street. The board, which includes Secretary of State Charles Summers and four Maine business people, is holding public meetings throughout the state.
The board has said it plans to use feedback from the meetings to recommend changes in regulations and laws that will improve Maine’s business climate. The recommendations will be submitted to Gov. Paul LePage and the Legislature.
One topic at the meeting was occupational safety regulations.
Faced with a maze of federal and state rules, small businesses such as boatyards “simply can’t bear any more pressure,” said Susan Swanton, executive director of the Maine Marine Trades Association.
“Our first responsibility is safety in the workplace, but there has to be some balance,” she said. She said boatyards don’t always have the personnel or resources to keep up with confusing and sometimes conflicting rules.
“(The Occupational Safety and Health Administration) only speaks OSHA,” she said, and claimed that the agency is overly punitive.
“There’s an adversarial attitude … that is inadvertently causing harm and instilling fear. OSHA is all about ‘getcha,’” she said.
A man from the Houlton area criticized the state’s landlord-tenant laws. He said that current regulations allow deadbeat tenants to stay in their homes while eviction proceedings are adjudicated. He suggested that the state collect rents and hold them in escrow until evictions are resolved.
“The current legal system is costing landlords thousands of dollars, while it subsidizes non-paying tenants,” he said.
The owner of a convenience store near Bangor complained of laws that were making it difficult for her to open an adjoining bar. Because of differences in rules for alcohol sales, her employees would be required to walk outside the store in order to get supplies from the bar, she claimed.
Mark Tyler, the board vice chairman and a former restaurant owner, clarified the fine points of the rules, but agreed that they were confusing. But the convenience store owner remained frustrated.
“Maine has become known as anti-business because of its over-regulation,” she said before leaving the meeting.
I wonder if there was any tea served at this party. Sure sounds like it.
Actually, I believe the democrat imposed tax on tea in Portland is a bit inhibitive
go figure…
OSHA laws are the same for ALL states. Consumers and workers( you know “the people”) Both EXPECT and demand state laws that protect them. THAT is balance.
Almost all “regulation ” is in place because someone at some time didn’t use common sense and abused common courtesies. Regulations exist because someon could justify the need for them..YUP there are abusive Landlords out there and businesses who do not put their workers safety first..
YUP, and there are other ways to deal with abusive landlords and workplace safety than to rely on the tyrannical, inefficient, bloated federal government to achieve a solution
Just because it’s the way you’ve always known, doesn’t mean it’s right
….think Copernicus
Many of these regulations have been around for decades and businesses have always seemed to muddle through. Why, all of the sudden, according to the Tea Party, are they a yolk around the necks of business? If we would have more regulation on Wall Street, we might be in the dire economic straits we are in. I guess it is just human nature to try and bend the rules in your favor.
Probably because we need new industries and business to come to Maine…and Maine is unattractive? Someone has to pay for that safety net, no?
http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owasrch.search_form?p_doc_type=STANDARDS&p_toc_level=0&p_keyvalue=
Here is an index of the rules… with the understanding that each index has many rules within.
Just for a second stop and consider there are also state and local rules… Some of which are inconsistent with each other. Some acceptable in some industries and not in another. A state inspector can tell you one thing and a federal inspector something else. Bring in your local code officer and you may have a third option..
My point is some of these things are not as clear as you might think and remember they change things all the time. They really do.
changing things all the time is the ONLY function that preserves their job
it’s sad. And what’s even sadder is all the uneducated, control freak lefties out there standing up for these government hacks…..of course, we all know why they do, they’re on the take
The easy way to deal with OSHA is to invite them to do a safety audit and an inspection. They’ll let you know what needs to be remedied and then you can fix it. Invite them back for a follow-up inspection. Problem solved. No need for an “adversarial attitude.”
Wrong. I asked for this several years ago and was told, they (OSHA) will not come to your business unless there is some sort of complaint.
That response doesn’t surprise me in the least, Dads. OSHA funding has been cut and cut and cut, through the years. I’m almost afraid to ask why.
“Our first responsibility is safety in the workplace, but there has to be some balance,” she said. She said boatyards don’t always have the personnel or resources to keep up with confusing and sometimes conflicting rules. Tell the families of the people that were injured in the work place because there aren’t enough people employed in order to maintain a safe work place. OSHA is not a gotcha type operation. You get yourself when you do not comply. Incorporate safety into your workflow and you won’t even know you are doing it. Remember this the next time you want to take a short cut. If there is a rule out there to protect you someone else already tried it your way and now they are a statistic.
I have a feeling most commentors here don’t have any experience with any of the complaints stated. Maine has been voted the bottom of the pack for business friendly time and time again, I would think people would want it to change so people had a chance to work and employee others? But according to the comments it doesn’t appear that way.
None of these regulations seem that big. OSHA is in EVERY state, so that is not just a Maine issue. The other ones seem to be Business specific and not industry as a whole. What regulations are Industry wide? I honestly do not know. Fixing these issues here, wouldn’t all of a sudden create a business boom. They seem to effect only one or two Businesses.
I love how easily some people rationalize tyranny as the acceptable status quo
How can you call yourself an American?
Do some reading on the revolutionary war, brush up on history, and get a clue as to what American freedom and liberty is all about
This isn’t tyranny. This isn’t the revolutionary war.
Enough with your whining and hyperbole — you sound like a spoiled child.
Feels a lot like i imagine 1937 to have felt. All “depressioney” with a rumor of war on the horizon as the only statist means of getting us out of it.
I’m sorry, but that’s pure stupidity and it’s offensive. Regulating business is nothing like what went on during those times. What a disgusting and childish thing to say. It’s all especially ironic, given your past comments about entitled whiners in reference to OWS and whatnot.
Actually you are incorrect.. There were gobs of new regulations and beating up of business pre-ww2. Gobs of it. Pro-union legislation… Assaults on utilities by Roosevelt that even his ally John M Keynes advised against that continued harassment saying
“I think that the litigation by the utilities is senseless and
ill-advised. But a great deal of what is alleged against the wickedness of holding companies is surely wide of the mark. It does not draw the right line of division between what should be kept and what discarded. It arises too much out of what is dead and gone.”
and Keynes was being nice.
I expect much of your opinion of the period is borne of ignorance of the times then and what is happening in the world today. In the 30’s totalitarianism was on the rise across the planet… borne from ill economic times.
In Europe you can see it if you note the extremist groups left and right taking seats in the parliaments of a number of countries. (Returning to authoritarian roots?) Greece Italy France & Spain.
In Russia Putin is rebuilding his military as fast as humanly possible. Weapons modernization programs are well under way.
China is making moves into the South China Sea and pushing Japan around as well.
The Mideast is aflame under the shadow of Irans nuclear program and Morsi of Egypt is a stalking horse for Erdogan of Turkey
Feels like 1937 to me.
No, I’m not incorrect. This is nothing like what led up to WWII. You want to have a debate? Fine, but leave the stupid whiner baby hyperbole at home.
Call me ignorant all you want, call others entitled all you want, point your fingers all you want, screech and cry and make obviously hyperbolic comparisons all you want — it doesn’t erase reality and it doesn’t make it any less obvious that most of what you accuse others of you’re actually guilty of yourself.
You are a bit tense. I called no one entitled. I whined about nothing. I accused no one else of anything. I just ventured my opinion on how things appear to me to be involved in the same dynamic and parallels as 75 years ago. Why does that bother you? After all I have listened to leftists for the last 4 years make comparisons to the depression. Does it finally strike a nerve? Is it finally hitting home?
I’ve already explained why it’s stupid and offensive. Your defense is “I was just stating my opinion” and that’s not a real defense. And how mature that you to feel validated by getting back at “leftists” — you’re a big man.
Actually you didn’t explain “why it’s stupid and offensive” all you have done is devolve to insults. Is that all you have?
Because, things like the threat of a tax increase (to the tune of what you paid 10 years ago) isn’t tantamount to the suffering that occurred between the world wars. All you have is hyperbole and insults — don’t pretend that you have the high ground. I know you think you’re smarter than everyone, but you can’t believe people are so stupid as to be fooled by your little games and routines.
I said nothing here about taxes. Can’t you stay on topic?
You are the person that is engaging in character assassination not I. You can’t respond to my points so that is your refuge.
And now this is character assassination? More empty hyperbole and hypocrisy.
“The owner of a convenience store near Bangor complained of laws that were making it difficult for her to open an adjoining bar. Because of differences in rules for alcohol sales, her employees would be required to walk outside the store in order to get supplies from the bar, she claimed.”
Okay, that is tricky, but that’s only because you’re trying to worm around the intent of the law. The legislators weren’t trying to put extra and weird burdens — this weird burden is there because you’ve found a loophole to the law.
It’s not a loophole, it’s called an unitended consequence. Regulations are loaded with them and it’s your position that when one arises, the affected business needs to sit down and shut up.
Well that’s some brilliance in a democratic system if I’ve ever seen it!
you sure you’re not Stalin’s long lost grandson?
Wow, you must have an amazing point to make, that’s why you resorted to a Stalin reference, right?