State: new laws regarding young drivers now in effect. One is inclined to agree with the folks who are tired of coping with all the rules and suggest making the driving age 18. On the other hand, just as the difference between being 20 years, 11 months and 30 days old and being 21 years old doesn’t train a person to use alcohol wisely, neither does giving them a license at age 18, give or take a few seconds, make them a better driver than they were the day before, aged 17.
Meriden: The question about when a non-profit organization becomes a lobbying organization is an interesting one, philosophically. At the moment, groups advocating reform of health care rules are at issue: how much may they spend in furtherance of a legislative cause. The rules are in place. All sorts of organizations have had, at one time or another, to separate their general advocacy activities from their specific lobbying activities, and most everyone figures out how to live with it. There’s always the chance that people who oppose the sort of goals a non-profit espouses may call a group out, in which case it is good to be prepared.
State: some of the measures passed Friday as being “budget related” are slight eyebrow-raisers. For instance: raising the age at which kids may drop out of high school by a year (it’s a good idea in theory, but was there discussion? What is the cost? Who will enforce?); allow food banks to give away food not prepared in an unlicensed kitchen (this idea would provoke reactions from local health directors, one would think?); bar approvals of state funding for new magnet schools (sort of pulling the rug out from under the idea, isn’t it?); allow substitute teachers for up to 10 days who do not have bachelor’s degrees (there aren’t enough unemployed college graduates?)
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