This post will actually tie together two recent ancilliary points I made.
In my post last night I briefly mentioned the heartache of the local construction industry as far as maintaining its job number went, and in discussing the proposed purchase of 5 acres for additional parking I alluded to new state stormwater regulations. A little-noticed release from the Maryland Senate Republican Caucus did a nice job of tying the two together with a nice bow on top:
The construction industry has been hit especially hard by job losses in Maryland. An analysis by the Department of Business and Economic Development estimates that 45% of Maryland’s total job loss has been from construction employment (Economic Pulse, September 2009)
To be successful, a jobs strategy for Maryland must focus on measures to stimulate private sector growth in the construction industry. Instead, the O’Malley administration is proceeding in exactly the opposite direction.
(snip)
Overzealous bureaucrats have devised stringent new regulations without a grandfather clause. Those few businesses attempting to recover from the economic downturn by financing projects in the pipeline will be dealt a second blow in May 2010 when all projects would be required to meet these new standards.
The new regulations have infuriated legislators who voted unanimously for the 2007 bills (SB 784 and HB 786 – Stormwater Management Act of 2007). The proposed regulations far exceed anything imagined by the legislators that supported the legislation. Legislators also questioned why MDE Secretary Shari Wilson failed to appear in Annapolis and respond to their questions this week.
If the O’Malley Administration is serious about job creation, the Governor will direct Secretary Wilson to change these regulations. First, existing projects that have already applied for environmental permitting need to be grandfathered under the old rules. Second, the regulations must broaden the scope of what is considered redevelopment so that developers are not prohibited from using 50% of the site for open space (which obviously does not make sense in some very dense urban areas in places like Baltimore City).
Otherwise, the only new jobs created under the O’Malley employment strategy will be those directly funded by federal bailout monies. The private sector will continues to be too over-taxed and over-regulated to lead the recovery for Maryland’s unemployed.
The one bone to pick I have with the bearer was not assuming MDE would do the worst possible job of kowtowing to the environmentalists – the bill shouldn’t have passed unanimously because allowing bureaucrats license to do their damage is a sure invitation to the disaster we’ll have once May comes. But it did and the damage will be done.
I’ve contended before that the state should put a moratorium on new environmental regulations for at least a half-decade until we can truly determine whether the laws in place are working or not. Instead, those who “measure” the quality of Chesapeake Bay tend to have a vested interest in seeing more regulation so they put a thumb on the scale in favor of more restrictions. I doubt some of the more militant types wouldn’t be above fudging the data in order to slow or stop development in Maryland – there’s a lot of money involved in that version of hiding the decline.
One decline we can’t hide is the decline in development and employment since the crew currently in Annapolis was placed in charge. It is indeed time to go back to the drawing board and draft regulations which give the construction industry a chance to thrive. Aquatic life is important to this state, but to me jobs are a priority.
