Hotel California
In “Hotel California,” Don Henley tells us that, “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.” It turns out that these words might be more than clever lyrics for a song. Hundreds of thousands of Californians are checking out and fleeing to states with lower taxes and fewer regulations. But they may soon discover that they didn’t really leave the regulations behind.
I recently wrote about a California law that prohibits the sale of pork in the state unless the animals from which it was derived were housed under specific space requirements. Because the state represents about 13 percent of pork sales, pig farmers in Iowa and elsewhere will spend an estimated $350 million to comply with the regulation. Consumers across the nation will pay higher prices for pork products, whether they checked out of California or not. But this is not the only example of the impact of California’s regulatory regime.
A growing number of states are adopting regulations established by the California Air Resource Board. Among other things, those regulations dictate emission standards that must be met by new vehicles. And beginning in 2024, vehicles that weigh more than 14,000 pounds and built before 2010 are prohibited from operating on the state’s roads. Whether other states adopt these standards or not, prices for automobiles and trucks will increase across the nation.
In addition, if the cost of heavy-duty trucks goes up, then so does the cost of transporting food, computers, construction materials, and virtually every other consumer product. California’s regulations will force all of us to pay higher prices for nearly everything we buy.
California is plagued with homelessness, an outrageous cost of living, growing crime in large cities, and an anti-business regulatory regime. Despite these ills, other states are increasingly following California’s lead. The results won’t be any different than they are in California.
Many Americans have never checked into Hotel California but will soon find that they are paying the price.