“Big brother” bill that would establish dangerous precedent is back

Perhaps it was wishful thinking. More than two months ago in this space, I explained why a seemingly innocuous state House bill is actually a hugely dangerous example of big government treading in an area in which it has no rightful place. And then, blessedly, after winning approval in the House, the bill disappeared from sight.

Scuttlebutt from Jones Street indicated that perhaps lawmakers had come to their senses and recognized that their proposal to require the private nonprofit law firm known as Disability Rights North Carolina to provide four reports per year to state government on its activities was way too much Big Brother — even for a legislative majority that has no problem micromanaging the most intimate healthcare decisions of private individuals.

As the April essay noted:

Unfortunately — as is so sadly typical in the 2023 General Assembly — it appears the hopes that lawmakers had seen the error of their ways (and that they might actually sit down and work something out with the group in question rather than trying to wield a heavy-handed hammer) were overly optimistic and off-base.

As it turns out, this deeply flawed bill will be heard in the Senate Health Care Committee this morning at 10:00 and appears to be back on the fast track.

And all a body can say is: what a waste!

As Disability Right NC’s Director of Public Policy Corye Dunn told me last night:

In other words, instead of taking simple and common sense steps that would allow the legislature and state agencies to obtain all the information they could ever want or need (and, in the process, maybe even improve the state’s treatment of people with disabilities), lawmakers will instead issue an engraved invitation to expensive and unnecessary litigation by advancing a bill that will rightfully be seen by scores of private organizations as a wrongful government inquisition with the potential to set a frightening precedent.