Nerditorial: Lazarus Ordinance II (Zombie and Zombier... now on Blu-Ray)

[There will be a public hearing on AB2010-180a on Tuesday, November 23 in Council Chambers.]

What do we want?
BRAINS!
When do we want them?
...BRAINS!

Zombie Rally Cry

Well, Cthulhu to the F'tagn... the dead will rise again.

Get the samurai swords, crossbows, and MP-5s out of storage. Another legislative zombie is rising and shambling across the legislative countryside.

In April, 2010, the County Council passed AB2010-180.

I wrote about it here on Latte Republic at the time. Here is the original post.

And now, the Council has introduced... AB2010-180a.

It is almost exactly the same language as appeared in AB2010-180, with the dates changed to give an additional six months to this extension of legally expired documents.

Spare a moment to peek at your driver's license.

Look for the expiration date.

That is a non-negotiable date. Once that date arrives, you no longer have a valid driver's license. Even if you are experiencing an economic hardship, you don't get an extension on that expiration date.

I suspect you are getting the fullness of my drift here.

My limited understanding of the inherent nature of legal documents is that an expiration date is supposed to mean something.

There is no legal precedent I can find for extending the duration of a legal document after the expiration date has elapsed. (Disclaimer: I'm not a legal expert)

As I said in my previous post:

Bringing dead permits back to life is an imperial exercise of power on the part of the County Council.


Taking an expired contract of any kind and renewing it unilaterally is an extraordinary exercise of government might.


...


This takes the whole concept of a written agreement and flips it on its head. When a government document expires, it is supposed to be an irrevocable act. This is the essence of certainty.


I don't think the Founding Fathers would find this amusing. This is the kind of crap that King George III would pull.

All you smaller government folks (I'm talkin' to you, TEA Party Patriots) can chime in any time about this. We accept comments here at Latte Republic. They are moderated, but we take points of view.

Without a trace of irony, ordinance AB2010-180a is being presented as a "one time" economic hardship extension.

The ordinance passed in April, AB2010-180, was introduced as a one time extension.

So this would be the second "one time" hardship extension in a row for county residents who own good land but are having trouble getting good credit right now.

One time plus one time equals... how many times? Every time I do the math I get two times.

Furthermore, this ordinance deprives the County of badly needed income from fees that these property owners would otherwise have to pay to apply for new permits. You know, like the income the State gets when you and I have to pay for a new driver's license after the last one legally expires. Only instead of being deprived of this reasonable income for six months the County is now depriving itself of this income for an entire year.

Well, last I checked, the County was experiencing economic hardship itself.

The County is getting out of the business of offering needs based fare structures for Lummi Island residents who are experiencing economic hardship. Time to get out of the business for needs based permit structures, as well.

If you feel like telling the County Council how you feel about this zombie ordinance, there will be a public hearing on the ordinance on Tuesday, November 23, 2010.