Remember when the Colorado legislature required the equivalent of a gas station in your garage, a gas station that only benefited Democratic donors? That’s what Coloradans will be saying if a ridiculous piece of legislation offered by Democrats Sen. Guzman and Rep. Duran is signed into law.
Is there no end to the Democrats’ overreaching this legislative session? This new bill going through the Colorado State Senate, SB13-126, would require landlords to allow tenants to install electric charging stations on their property.
Perhaps the largest issue is the basic issue of property rights erosion. Should landlords compromise their investment for a technology that doesn’t even work? When the New York Times took a Tesla for a spin, it ended up stalling out on the highway.
There are plenty of things that landlords forbid on their properties. Some landlords don’t allow cats, for example, because of the threat of damage to the property that may exceed security deposits. Some apartment buildings don’t allow grills on premises due to fire hazard. Should landlords also not permit Chevy Volts? Apparently, they’re a fire hazard as well.
Then, there is the issue of practical application. While a ridiculous bill from Denver-based legislators isn’t surprising, their complete lack of awareness of their neighborhoods is. First, many neighborhoods in Denver with multi-family units are older, some over 120 years old. This means that there often isn’t much in the way of off-street parking, and many homes have been grandfathered in without such parking requirements. How would this impact existing leases, which specify parking spots or lackthereof? Land is tight in Denver. There may be instances in which there is literally nowhere to place a charging station.
Will the next step in green incrementalism be to require a certain percentage of multi-family units’ power to come from green sources? Will landlords be required to install solar panels?
Just as when fuel tanks of traditional cars are near empty, we must travel to a gas station to refill, electric car owners must take the same responsibility. There is even a web site to assist with this: www.carstations.com. One can enter a zip code and the web site pulls up nearby stations.
With rental prices already on the rise, this bill would only benefit Democratic donors at the expense of middle class families.
What are these democrats loosing their minds up there in Denver? Do they just sit up there thinking of the most bizarre, most expensive, or most illogical bill to draft and act as if they were of sound mind? They have lost it. Do they want jobs or do they simply want to crash the economy in Colorado just like their cousins in DC are doing to the entire nation? This will put a chill on rentals all over the state of Colorado. Who would in their right might want to buy a home to rent with this bill looming or with what other cockamamie bill that will come next. All I can say is RECALL as many as we can and gets some sane, non-RINO Republican in there to clean up their mess.
Just wait till some kids sticks something in there and starts a fire or shorts out the whole building!