Founders had different idea
If all the rules and regulations by which we are forced to live are such good ideas, why are so many of them promulgated unilaterally? Why were the checks and balances the Founders built into our system of government abandoned?
We’re taught in school that basic rules in the form of laws have to be approved by both houses of Congress, then the president, and then, if someone objects, the courts. That’s four levels at which lots of people have opportunities to say no to bad ideas.
It’s the same in most states. In West Virginia and Ohio, approval is required from two houses of the legislatures, the governor, then the state supreme courts.
But it doesn’t work that way. At every level of government there are executive branch agencies with the power to establish and enforce their own rules that have the force of law.
Here in West Virginia, something of a rebellion against unilateral lawmaking is occurring. A bill introduced in the House of Delegates would grant county commissions the power to overrule county boards of health. Think bans on smoking if you wonder why this one came up.
Also in Charleston, legislators have balked at the power over public schools held by the state Board of Education and the state superintendent of schools. On this one, thank lawmakers’ objections to the Common Core standards and the state BOE’s handling of standardized testing.
It’s happening in Congress, too. There, the Congressional Review Act is the tool and the Obama administration’s numerous power grabs are the target.
Just a few days ago, with coal miners and lawmakers from West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky surrounding him, President Donald Trump signed a CRA that, in effect, invalidates the controversial Stream Protection Rule planned by the Interior Department. Had it gone into effect, it would have made both surface and underground mining impractical in much of the country.
Obama’s war on coal and affordable electricity utilized several federal agencies. The Environmental Protection Agency took the lead, with rule after rule opposed by a majority of members of Congress.
Why did lawmakers do that? Because, more than 40 years ago, members of Congress gave the EPA sweeping power both to define environmental concerns and regulate them. Why? Because lawmakers back then didn’t want to take the flak over new environmental laws. So, in effect, they gave the EPA lawmaking authority. They’ve done the same thing on a variety of other issues, ranging from medicines to financial transactions.
Authority of that sort given to the bureaucracy means, in effect, that whomever runs an agency has the ability to establish and enforce new laws.
It’s not just at the federal level. West Virginia legislators are showing signs of wanting to curb the power of executive branch agencies at the county and state levels, too — and it’s not just because the Legislature is controlled by Republicans and Gov. Jim Justice is a Democrat. In addition to the county health board and education-related issues noted above, lawmakers have bills on their desks over other issues, including how the state interacts with the EPA.
Federal bureaucrats already are fighting back. Expect local and state agencies whose discretion is threatened to do the same. Ironically, one tool at their disposal is that, if state legislators try to curb their power, they can argue they are required to do certain things by — you guessed it — federal agencies.
And the feds have the power of the purse to back them up. Had that controversial rule on schools and gender-neutral restrooms gone through, you could have expected Washington to note that noncompliance would mean loss of federal funding. That was not a consideration with “sanctuary cities” under Obama, of course.
Our nation’s Founders had a good reason for establishing the checks-and-balances system. It was simply to avoid what has happened to us — bureaucrats telling us to toe their line because they say so.
Mike Myer is the executive editor at the Wheeling Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register. Myer can be reached at mmyer@theintelligencer.net.