Thinking Citizen Blog — The Sunset Clause: a Good Idea? How Good? Why?

Thinking Citizen Blog — Sunday is Political Process, Campaign Strategy, and Candidate Selection Day

Today’s Topic: The Sunset Clause: a Good Idea? How Good? Why?

Should laws and regulations have an expiration date? when? why? Laws are often enacted in the heat of the moment but tend to last forever. Ditto for regulations. The idea of a “sunset” provision is not new. And crosses party lines. Today, excerpts from an article by Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe. Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.

THE IDEAL WORLD VERSUS THE REAL WORLD, MINNESOTA SETS AN EXAMPLE

1. “Ideally governments would enact only wise and necessary laws able to withstand the test of time. In the real world politicians react to the shifting pressures and controversies of the moment.”

2. “An issue flares up, voters are aroused — and legislators respond with something that seems appropriate at the time: a mandate, a prohibition, a subsidy, a new agency. Eventually the spotlight moves on, but the new rules or outlays endure.”

3. “And if, down the road, they prove to be unsound? Or to to make matters worse? Or to outlive their usefulness? Good luck trying to strike them from the statute books.”

NB: “In 2014, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton called the legislature into a special “unsession” for the purpose of repealing outdated, arcance, and burdensome laws and regulations. To their credit, lawmakers scrapped nearly 1,200 such measures. But very few states have followed Minnesota’s example. Congress certainly has never done so.”

STRANGE BED FELLOWS AND COMPELLING (?) ANALOGIES

1. “The late Senator Ed Muskie of Maine, a Democrat, repeatedly introduced sunset legislation in the 1970s, attracting supporters on both side of the aisle from Barry Goldwater to Ted Kennedy.”

2. “But his bill never passed, and laws, regulations, and programs have continued to pile up, endowed with an immortality that would be absurd in most other contexts.”

3. “Meat and milk have a sell-by date. Prescriptions expire. Politicians are elected for fixed terms. Bonds mature. Driver’s licenses must be renewed.”

NB: “Sunsets in nature are beautiful. Sunsets in government too.”

THE EXCEPTIONS: BILLS WITH SUNSET PROVISIONS

1. The Patriot Act — Section 215 renewed in 2006,2012, 2015, but allowed to expire in 2020.

2. The 2001 Bush tax cuts had an expiration date of 2010.

3. The federal assault weapons ban of 1994 expired in 2004.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/05/16/opinion/sunsets-are-beautiful-government-too/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset_provision

Here is a link to the last three years of posts organized by theme:

PDF with headlines — Google Drive

YOUR TURN

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