The inmates are running the asylum

The inmates are running the asylum that is California.  With massive unemployment
the Elite Political Hack Class is worried about bed sheets.

Unemployment?  The People's Republic only cares about what type of sheets are used on beds.


Business owners and others who have long complained that companies are overburdened by state regulations say a proposal now moving through the Legislature shows that lawmakers have lost all touch with reality: It would require that hotels use fitted sheets.

"We are now going to make it a crime in California not to use a fitted sheet? Really?" State Senator Sam Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo) asked during a debate before the Senate passed the measure in June says the Los Angeles Times.

The bill, one of nearly 900 awaiting final action in the Legislature when it returns Monday from a monthlong recess, is intended to address back injuries sustained by hotel housekeepers. But it has revived a long-simmering debate over whether California has become a hyper-regulated "nanny state."

In 2007, the Legislature was subject to national ridicule when it considered a bill to outlaw spanking of young children. Embarrassed lawmakers eventually shelved that proposal, but businesses have decried the Legislature's subsequent ban on trans fats in restaurant cooking, requirement that calorie counts appear on menus, and prohibition on dairies docking cows' tails.

The sheet bill author, State Senator Kevin De Leon (D-Los Angeles), said scores of housekeepers suffer back injuries each year lifting heavy mattresses to replace flat sheets.

The bill also would require special tools to enable maids to clean bathrooms without having to stoop or get down on their hands and knees.

The dispute is particularly intense this year as California struggles with a tough economy and high unemployment.

"Californians will be outraged when they learn that instead of focusing on the many real problems facing this state, lawmakers want to regulate bed sheets," said Lynn Mohrfeld, head of the California Hotel & Lodging Assn.

The hotel industry says that it would have to spend at least $30 million to replace sheets and buy appropriate laundry equipment, and that De Leon's measure, SB 432, would open the door for more employee lawsuits.

In response, De Leon is planning changes to his bill that would give hotels the option of adopting other methods of protecting housekeepers from back injuries, such as purchasing equipment to reduce strain.

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