Overlawyered » utilities

Not-so-new frontiers of privatization

Walter Olson — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 04:17:13 +0000

Half a century ago, selling the Tennessee Valley Authority was regarded as a free-marketeers’ politically impossible dream. Now guess who’s for it — and who’s against. (Hint on the latter: R-Tenn.) [Knoxville News via Future of Capitalism]

P.S. More on this welcome Obama initiative from Chris Edwards: “former Cato chairman Bill Niskanen was barred by Congress for even looking into TVA reform when he was on President Reagan’s CEA.” So progress marches on. And: Fortune 1933 article on TVA.

Tags: Tennessee, utilities, wayward Republicans

Not-so-new frontiers of privatization is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Disabled rights roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 04:07:10 +0000

More reactions, besides mine, to Senate’s non-ratification of U.N. disabled-rights treaty [Hans Bader, NYT Room for Debate including notably David Kopel's, Julian Ku ("Support Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Because It Doesn’t Do Anything!"), Tyler Cowen (keep powder dry for bigger ratification battles), Peter Spiro (proposes end run around Senate)]
As Department of Justice rolls out Olmstead settlements to more states, battles continue between disabled rights advocates seeking closure of large congregate facilities and family members who fear mentally disabled loved ones will fare worse in “community” settings [Philadelphia City Paper via Bagenstos, NYT on Georgia, earlier, more background]
“Utilityman can’t climb utility poles, but has ADA claim against utility company” [Eric Meyer]
Kozinski: Disney “obviously mistaken” in arguing against use of Segway by disabled visitors [Sam Bagenstos; related, Walt Disney World, Eleventh Circuit]
Wendy’s franchisee agrees to pay $41,500 in EEOC settlement after turning away hearing-impaired cook applicant [EEOC]
California enacts compromise bill aimed at curtailing ADA filing mills [Sacramento Bee, LNL]
“Train your managers and supervisors never to discuss employees’ medical issues.” [Jon Hyman]

Tags: ADA filing mills, Alex Kozinski, disabled rights, Disney, international human rights, international law, restaurants, utilities, workplace

Disabled rights roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Hurricane Sandy recovery and occupational licensing

Walter Olson — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 15:24:04 +0000

To get your power turned back on in the Rockaways, according to a spokesman for the Long Island Power Authority, you’re going to need a pre-inspection for your house not just from a licensed electrician, but from one licensed in NYC — nearby Nassau County, or upstate, won’t do. If occupational licensure makes any sense at all — and Milton Friedman had a thing or two to say about that — it certainly needs to be reconsidered under conditions of public emergency and disaster recovery, or so I argue in my new post at Cato at Liberty.

For more background on the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) as a political football, by the way, check out Nicole Gelinas in the New York Post. Also on disaster recovery, why this might be a good time to rethink municipal ordinances barring property owners from removing old trees [Chris Fountain]. And: “Can customers sue power companies for outages? Yes, but it’s hard to win” [Alison Frankel, Reuters]

Tags: Long Island, New York, NYC, trees, utilities, workplace

Hurricane Sandy recovery and occupational licensing is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

War on coal? Maybe not so much

Walter Olson — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 12:08:21 +0000

Will the Obama administration’s much-publicized restrictions on new coal burning electric plants really crimp the economy of the Midwest? Or, given that the market for new plants appears to have tipped decisively toward natural gas for the foreseeable future, do they amount to a “regulatory nothing-burger?” [Jerry Rogers and Peter Van Doren (Cato), Forbes, via David Henderson]

Tags: Barack Obama, environment, Ohio, utilities

War on coal? Maybe not so much is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

A case against municipal ownership of utilities

Walter Olson — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:45:17 +0000

If you don’t pay your traffic-cam tickets, the city of Las Cruces, New Mexico says it will cut off your water and sewer service. [The Newspaper]

Tags: New Mexico, red light cameras, utilities

A case against municipal ownership of utilities is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system