From the Times Union
By Steve Patterson
In the name of creating jobs, Florida lawmakers could repeal laws that regulate telemarketers, keep charities from making false claims and force auto repair shops to give you estimates.
"This is a product that I think will help Floridians get back to work," the original sponsor of a far-reaching bill, Rep. Esteban Bovo, R-Hialeah, said before he quit the House last week to run for a seat on the Miami-Dade County Commission.
The deregulation bill has picked up steam since then.
The legislation, labeled CS/HB 5005, passed through the House Appropriations Committee this week despite hours of testimony by some industries that said they didn't want to be deregulated.
It would ease regulation and costs for more than 100,000 people or businesses and repeal "unnecessary licensing requirements," the committee was told by Rep. Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, a four-term legislator who replaced Bovo as the bill's chief supporter.
But critics say lawmakers are toying with rolling back rules that many taxpayers actually use.
"I don't think when people voted for [Gov. Rick] Scott, that they voted to start getting telemarketing calls at dinner time again. I don't think that's what they had in mind," said Bill Newton, executive director of the Florida Consumer Action Network, a Tampa-based nonprofit that advocates on consumer protection issues.
It's not clear whether Scott actually supports the bill. A question about that wasn't answered Friday by the governor's staff. Katie Gordon Betta, a spokeswoman for House Speaker Dean Cannon, said she wasn't sure whether the governor's office agreed with the choices of which industries to deregulate but said "the overall concept seems in keeping with his philosophy."
An analysis by House staffers said passing the bill would save about 89,000 businesses or license holders a total of $11.3 million per year - about $127 apiece. The state would be able to lay off about 117 employees at two agencies and save about $5.2 million on its operations.
That would mean the state's net revenues from licensing would drop about $6 million.
Newton said the bill shows an ideological bent toward cutting government without thinking through consequences or listening to the groups affected.
"Nonprofit groups, although we're not thrilled with being regulated, we didn't ask to be deregulated," he said.
About 15 lines of work - among them talent agents, movers and used-yacht brokers - would be relieved of state licensing requirements.
Hukill, who chairs the Economic Affairs Committee, argued that the bill's common thread is that the rules being targeted don't really add real protections for the public but cost businesses money they could use for hiring.
"The cost to a business that is associated with regulation and licensure is substantial and can significantly impact a business's bottom line," she said, "often hindering the possibility for growth or expansion."
Among the rules the bill would repeal are requirements for auto mechanics to provide written estimates for repairs that will cost more than $100, and let customers inspect parts that are removed from their vehicles. A Times-Union investigation of auto repair businesses in 2005 documented that some mechanics survived years of consumer complaints about shoddy work, but also found that thousands of consumers turned to state regulators for help resolving repair problems.
By repealing the statute that makes charities and fundraising businesses register with the state, the bill would also eliminate rules that forbid fundraisers working for charity from making false claims, or not delivering their collections to the charity. Both of those could arguably still be prosecuted as criminal fraud but in the current fundraising statute they are felonies.
Telemarketers also are registered but barely regulated, Hukill said, and there are federal rules controlling things like the hours when they call.
But Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services lists telemarketing complaints as the No. 1 subject of calls to a state consumer hotline, 1-800-HELP-FLA.
The department logged 8,599 telemarketing complaints last year and closed almost 6,900 of those, spokeswoman Sarah Criser said.
There were 203 complaints about charity fund-raisers last year, and 1,902 about car repairs, she said.
Rep. Mia Jones, D-Jacksonville, voted against the bill Wednesday and said she'll seek changes before a final House floor vote. She said her main concerns cover yet a different part of the bill, which would remove licensing and education requirements for people who braid or wrap hair. She said medical professionals have told her that work carries some risk of transferring disease if workers aren't trained. Jones said those workers now complete a 16-hour course every two years and pay $25.
Jones, the only Northeast Florida lawmaker on the subcommittee that drafted the bill, said she's also worried about removing telemarketing and fund-raising regulations.
"These rules, Jones said, "are in place for a reason."
steve.patterson@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4263
Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/florida/2011-04-02/story/florida-lawmakers-may-cut-laws-controlling-telemarketers-charities#ixzz1IbIFvUM6
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