Utah Valley roundup: Orem and ObamaCare
Orem and ObamaCare
Does Utah's consumer protection law
apply to government agencies -- the city of Orem, for instance -- or only to
the private sector? It's an intriguing question posed this week by local
political observer Peggy Burdett.
Orem is in the process of developing a
recycling program like the one Provo started last year. Under the program, if a
resident doesn't formally opt out by a certain drop-dead date, he is stuck
paying for recycling for a year even if he doesn't want to recycle.
The reason for the rule is that the
government must enter a contract with a private company for the recycled trash
pickup, and so there needs to be a predictable number of residences
participating in order to negotiate the best price. At least that's how it was
explained in Provo. The pickup company wants a guaranteed customer base.
Burdett, always on the lookout for
government overreach, offered an intriguing question on all this: Does the Utah
Consumer Sales Practices Act prohibit government from imposing a recycling fee
on a person who hasn't agreed to take the service?
She pointed out in an e-mail to the
Daily Herald that the law says it's a "deceptive act or practice"
when a supplier "charges a consumer for a consumer transaction or a
portion of a consumer transaction that has not previously been agreed to by the
consumer." (Utah Code, 13-11-4.)
"Orem City is requiring residents
to keep the can they have NOT agreed to, for a year before they can get rid of
it and stop paying the monthly fees," Burdett wrote in her email. "Am
I reading the law wrong? Does the Utah Consumer Sales Practices Act protect
consumers from being charged for things they didn't agree to buy, and does it
apply to government agencies?"
We're not lawyers, but we think she
makes a good point. On the other hand, it might be argued that local residents
did, technically, agree to accept the service arrangement and fees by virtue of
the fact that their representatives at City Hall acted on their behalf.
This is the problem of self-government:
The government can act in your name, whether you like it or not. Your only
recourse is the ballot box.
Still, it's an interesting discussion in
light of the recent Supreme Court ruling on the national health care plan known
(derisively) as ObamaCare. Chief Justice John Roberts cast the deciding swing
vote by calling the imposition of a fee for non-participation a
"tax."
Maybe that applies to Orem's recycling
program, too. It's just a tax. But, like ObamaCare, some residents may want to
repeal it.
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