H. Health, Safety and the Environment
The General Welfare: A Legislative Agenda for a Better American Future
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."
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Health, Safety and the Environment
The Smoking Health and Safety Act.
The FDA is hereby granted authority to regulate the advertising, distribution and safety of tobacco and cannabis products as foods and drugs. The FDA shall not ban such products but may regulate them in any way designed to reduce their negative impact on the public health.
Advertising of unhealthy food and drug products is detrimental to the public welfare and hereby declared illegal. The FDA may enforce this provision by regulation.
An excise tax of 25% is hereby imposed on all tobacco and cannabis products.
The Human Life Preservation and Economic Recovery Act.
Whereas, the use of carbon based fuels imposes massive costs on other people and the ecosystem that are not correctly included in fuel prices, and
Whereas, subsidized insurance, limits on liability and other subsidies are distorting and inefficient,
now therefore:
A carbon price correction fee, to be collected in the manner of a VAT tax, is imposed on all carbon based fuels in an amount to be determined by the EPA from time to time,
The EPA shall set such carbon price correction fee, at an amount which shall be, in the EPA's estimation, the actual cost of externalities associated with the use of such fuels, including the economic and non-economic costs of pollution and global climate change.
In the absence of EPA determination, or should a court determine that the amount of this fee may not be determined by the EPA, the carbon price correction fee shall be $5 per gallon of gasoline or its energy equivalent and shall increase with inflation.
The proceeds of this carbon price correction fee shall be used to fund research and development of, infrastructure for, and production and installation of safe renewable non-carbon based fuels, mass transit systems, dedicated urban bicycle paths and intercity railroads, and energy conserving technologies, including highly efficient motors and insulation.
All Federal subsidies, whether by direct appropriation, tax reductions or other method, for carbon based or nuclear powered fuels, including subsidies for exploration and development thereof, are hereby repealed.
All limits on tort liability for power plants, energy exploration and carbon-based transportation systems are hereby repealed. This provision may be enforced by any taxpayer.
No state shall enact any special limitation on ordinary tort liability for power plants, energy exploration or development or carbon-based transportation systems, or provide any subsidy, whether by tax, appropriation or other method, for such industries or companies engaging in them. This provision may be enforced by any taxpayer.
Each state shall establish tariffs for sale of electricity and other regulated fuels that shall provide utilities with a greater incentive to promote conservation than to promote expansion of energy use.
Each state shall establish a tariff for sale of electricity that guarantees that the relevant utility shall purchase all electricity produced by carbon neutral, renewable sources at a price not lower than the sum of (a) the actual price of the most expensive electricity the utility purchases, or the actual cost of production, including sunk costs, of the most expensive electricity the utility produces by, any non-carbon neutral or non-renewable source, (b) plus an amount equal to the carbon price correction fee.
All carbon-based and nuclear fuel power plants, exploration and development projects shall include a provision for the safe disposal of all associated wastes, including hothouse gases, and no such plant, exploration or development project shall be approved unless it includes provision for such disposal and funding thereof. This provision maybe enforced by any taxpayer.
The Agriculture Protection Act.
The existing agriculture support system was originally created to support small family farms and to teach farmers farming sustainable techniques to prevent another dust bowl. Over time, it has lost these purposes and transmuted into subsidies for agribusiness, monoculture, unhealthy foods and poor land stewardship techniques. It is time to shift agriculture support from mass production of soy and corn without regard to ecological consequences to, instead, genuine family farmer who are trained to work the land, not strip it.
All existing agriculture support and subsidy payments are hereby abolished.
The amount previously allocated to agriculture support payments is hereby allocated to a new Agriculture Stewardship Program.
The Agriculture Stewardship Program shall be administered by the USDA, which shall promulgate appropriate rules and regulations.
The USDA shall create or fund services to develop and educate farmers regarding low impact, biodiversity promoting and pollution (including global warming gases) reducing methods of farming, including by creating positions at land grant colleges for such purposes.
Upon a finding of market failure, the USDA shall make grants or support payments to farmers who
(1) if human hold less than 1000 acres, and if corporate, hold less than 1000 acres and have control persons who, in the aggregate, are control persons with respect to corporations and other entities that, collectively, hold less than 1000 acres, and
(2) have a demonstrated or approved plan to farm the land in a way that promotes biodiversity and sustainability, and
(3) do not create measurable run-off or pollution, or are certified by the USDA as using best available technology for achieving such goal and have reduced their run-off and pollution by at least 10% in the last year.
The National Railroad and Economic Competitiveness Act.
The Highway Trust Fund is hereby amended as follows.
The Highway Trust Fund shall be renamed the Transportation Trust Fund.
The tax shall be increased by 50%. In addition, a tax shall be imposed on all shipping, by whatever means, in the United States, in the amount of $x per ton, with proceeds to the Transportation Trust Fund.
The Transportation Trust Administration shall prepare a plan to build an intercity passenger rail system covering the major cities of the United States at minimum speeds of 150 mph or the best available technology, whichever is higher. Preference shall be given to producers that will employ more Americans.
The Transportation Trust Fund shall be empowered to issue up to 5% of GDP in long or short term debt to fund building the intercity passenger rail system, on a revolving basis. Principal and interest shall be repaid from the Transportation Trust Fund, backed by the full faith and credit of the US government.
Transportation Trust Fund proceeds shall be allocated in the following order of priority:
Creation and completion of the high speed passenger rail system.
Building and maintenance of interstate highway, intercity rail systems, mass transit and other transit systems, and intracity dedicated bicycle paths, with priority based on the number of passengers expected to be served per unit of fuel.
Freight transport systems, with priority based on fuel efficiency.
The Free Market In Parking Act.
It is the policy of the United States to eliminate subsidies for automotive use and to encourage a free market in automobile parking.
No Highway Trust Fund money shall be used for construction of roads or highways in any state unless such state, including each of its regional and local governments, is in compliance with each of the following provisions:
On-street parking carries a market rate price that is no less than the lower of (a) the cost of creating and providing such parking, or (b) the price at which there is no shortage of parking.
A shortage of parking exists if during peak parking hours, drivers routinely search for parking for more than 10 minutes or drive more than .2 miles to find it. States or localities may change this definition to reduce the stated time or distance, but not to increase it.
Unmetered free on-street parking shall be permitted only in localities where (a) no parking shortage exists, and (b) the cost of maintaining meters would exceed the revenues collected.
Flat fee pricing shall be permitted only on a showing that it does not cause shortages or increased use of parking relative to timed pricing.
Zoning ordinances do not require more parking spaces than the market would provide in their absence. Notwithstanding this provision, zoning may be used to restrict the form, appearance and location of parking or to place a maximum on the permitted quantity of parking.
Zoning, regional planning, street design and planning for all new construction routinely include provision for pedestrian and bicycle access, separated from automobiles, and for bicycle parking.
Zoning and planning approval processes for any construction expected to require large scale parking, including shopping centers and work places, ordinarily requires explicit pricing for parking sufficiently high to prevent shortages.
The Energy Independence & National Security Research and Infrastructure Construction Act.
The Congress hereby directs the Pentagon, in cooperation with the National Institutes of Science, to fund research on and development and distribution of
fuels that
are produced within the boundaries of the US,
do not contribute to global warming, and
do not generate toxic wastes or pollution,
and conservation methods that reduce the need for fuel of any variety.
One hundred billion dollars is allocated to such project for each of the next two fiscal years.
The Congress hereby directs the Pentagon to create and build a national distribution system and other required infrastructure for such fuels.
Funding shall be from the Pentagon's regular budget at the discretion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and any supplemental funding that the Pentagon may request and the Congress approve.
It is the intention of the Congress and this legislation, that at least 25% of US energy consumption shall be provided by such fuels or conservation within five years.
In order to assure that the US has adequate emergency supplies of coal and oil in the event of international shortages, national policy is to preserve existing stocks in situ. A moratorium is hereby declared on licensing or exploitation of any mine or well within the territories and possessions of the United States, to be lifted only when the EPA certifies that US energy use has dropped by at least 20% and 25% of energy used is derived from renewable sources that do not generate global climate change gases or other pollutants. This provision shall not bar the continued exploitation of any mine or well located entirely on privately owned land and otherwise in conformity with the laws of the United States and any applicable state or subdivision thereof.
American Property Rights Protection And Free Market Pricing Act.
Currently, in defiance of common sense and market norms, we subsidize private exploitation of public land even when great damage results. Ranchers are subsidized to run cattle on public lands, destroying native flora and fauna, and when they conflict with the native buffalo, we pay for destruction of the buffalo -- even though these businesses would be uneconomic absent subsidies. Nuclear power plants and undersea oil wells are granted Federal immunity from ordinary liability for damage they may cause -- a massive subsidy with no economic or political justification. Gold, uranium and coal miners are permitted to create mines on Federal land without paying for the land or the damage they cause. This statute seeks to change this norm and establish the ordinary free market norm that users must pay for the value they take for themselves.
No person shall be granted a license or permit to use, mine, farm, graze, exploit,or occupy land that is the property of the United States, or any mineral or resource that is the property of the United States, unless such person pays a fee at least equal to the fee that would be charged in an arms length private sector transaction.
In all cost-benefit analyses performed with regard to US owned resources, the value of retaining native fauna, flora or landscapes shall be priced at no less than the amount Americans would expect to paid to relinquish the rights to possession, maintenance, continuing enjoyment and knowledge of the continuing health and safety of such fauna, flora and landscape.
The fee for grazing permits on US land shall be no less than the cost of grazing on equivalent private land, and shall include the cost of repair or restoration of such land and the monetary value of damage done to the beauty and natural biological diversity of such land, including the value to Americans who wish to know that US land remains intact.
The fee for extraction permits on US land shall be no less than the market cost of extracting similar commodities from private land, and shall in every case include a fee for the costs of full restoration of the land after extraction and elimination of the effects of any pollution or global warming gases emitted or produced during extraction, transport or use of the commodity.
No grazing or extraction permit shall be issued if, in the judgment of any of the Secretary, applicable state or local authorities, or determination of the EPA, grazing permits shall cause damage to buffalo, other native fauna or flora, or the value of the land as a refuge or reserve for Americans nationally, if the monetary or non-monetary value of such damage is greater than the incremental benefit to the American people as a whole of the permit.
It is the policy of the United States to manage its fuel resources with regard for the rights of future generations. In general, this means that resources ought to stored undeveloped to the degree possible, so that they will be available for future use when no alternatives are available.
No fuel extraction permit shall be granted unless the grant recipient pays a fee equal to the lesser of
(1) the costs of restoration of the land following extraction, plus the costs of eliminating the effects of any pollution or global warming gases emitted during production, transport, marketing or use of the fuel, or
(2) an amount necessary to create incentives to produce less polluting and more sustainable alternative sources.
No power plant or other permit shall be granted unless the licensee/permitee demonstrates sufficient assets (or insurance or similar guarantee from a guarantor with sufficient assets) to cover tort damages in the worst possible scenario. All caps on tort liability resulting from negligent operation of any power plant or extractive industry are hereby repealed.