Oklahoma City local NBC affiliate KFOR covered a story todaythat should warm the cockles (if not the chilly hands) of all true Republicans.
State Rep. Joe Dorman (D) heard from his constituents that elderly parents in assisted living were often left sitting in the dark (and the sweltering heat or bitter cold, depending on the reason for the electrical outage) after electrical outages, because there was no law on the Oklahoma books requiring assisted living facilities to have back-up generators. To those of us serving time in this outpost of hell, it seems incredible that no one's done this before, as we often see outages of 12-24 hours in the spring; the result of the heavy thunderstorms that tear through each year.
And just a few winters ago we had large areas of the metropolitan OKC area go 1-2 weeks, due to the Ice Storm of '06. Rural communities in some areas went three weeks and more. And while I'm sure assisted living centers are priority one when it comes to getting the lights back on, any time in the dark is too long, especially for those who should be enjoying the best we can provide of care and solicitude.
So Rep. Dorman drafted legislation to do just that. In due course the bill traveled through the House Public Health Committee. Then, according to okhouse.gov:
The House Public Health Committee passed the legislation 11-7 and amended its effective date to a later time.
What they so coyly leave out is the amendment moved the effective date to 3010.
Yeah, you read that right. Rep. Jason Nelson (R) voted for the bill, but then added an amendment delaying the start of the bill one thousand years.
From KFOR:
Nelson calls it a legitimate delay tactic even though he voted in favor of the bill.
"I support the idea, but not the language in the bill. So it's a way to tie one of its arms behind its back," said Rep. Nelson.
Again, from the same article at KFOR:
Despite his amendment, Representative Nelson actually hopes a modified version of the bill takes effect later this year.
By which of course he means modified so that purchasing the generators is left entirely up to the houses, because, after all, they know what's best for themselves. And if they don't want back-up generators, then it's their God-Given Right not to have them.