Kulongoski Proposes Outlawing After-Market Car Parts
It seems that the State of Oregon just can’t stay out of people’s cars. A little over a month ago, we reported on how Governor Kulongoski has been floating the idea of installing tracking devices in every automobile and taxing drivers by the mile because increased fuel economy standards were starting to cut into gax tax revenues.
Sadly, the governor has even more great ideas about how Oregonians should be allowed to use their own property. H.B. 2186, introduced at the behest of Kulongoski aims to “to prohibit the sale and distribution of aftermarket motor vehicle parts if alternatives are available that “decrease greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles.”
It appears that the focus of the legislation is aftermarket vanity tires that, while they might make your low-rider lower or boost your jacked-up pickup that much higher off the ground, might also cause a mileage hit. The law is almost certain to cover other auto parts that I’m just not car-savvy enough to know about, too.
The bill is sure to find favor with “green-at-any-cost” types, but is certain to strike… well… pretty much everyone else as yet more pointless regulation that accomplishes absolutely nothing aside from further increasing state control over what private citizens can and cannot do with their own property within the State of Oregon and encouraging a thriving after-market auto parts industry just on the other side of Oregon’s borders.
So much for “economic stimulus.”
As the guys over at Autoblog put it, “Putting our legislators in charge of what equipment should be fitted to our cars doesn’t strike us as the brightest idea.” Expand that to “in charge of anything at all” and I’m inclined to agree.
(H/T Instapundit)
