You can't beat up on the job creators

Where are the jobs? That's the question on many people's minds as the economy sputters, D.C. politicians agree on almost nothing and here in Kentucky, questions abound about how the state will pay a coming interest payment on the nearly $1 billion it has borrowed from Uncle Sam to pay unemployment claims. And, yes it's true. Some companies, perhaps many, enjoy big profits and are not hiring.

I've seen liberal columnists like Robert Reich essentially "demand" that U.S. companies with rich cash reserves start hiring. Those same people who blame companies for not hiring are many times also the first to support policies that have a chilling effect on hiring. Let me count three examples:

1) Healthcare reform: Out of the news for the most part lately, but implementation dates of the plan in the next few years still have business and industry nervous. Starting in 2014, businesses with 50+ employees must provide healthcare coverage or pay fines. I know of at least one business with 47 employees in two locations who'd like to open a third but won't because of this predicament.

2) Continued EPA advocacy: Coal-fired power plants in the midwest are in the crosshairs of the EPA. This promises increased electric rates for much of the country. For industry, it will cost millions.

3) Union activities: President Obama was not able to get legislation designed to make it easier to unionize America through Congress. Now, the National Labor Relations Board is proposing changes that are clearly designed to handcuff business and industry's ability to communicate with its own employees during a union organizing effort.

It's no different than refusing to water a garden but expecting a bumper crop. You can't beat up on the job creators and expect them to go on a hiring frenzy. Taxes are always an issue to business and industry, but regulation and red tape is strangling American enterprise and job creation. It's that simple.

A bad bill is a bad bill - SB151

Monday, a Kentucky House committee will again discuss SB151, which would replace the state's three-person appointed Public Service Commission board with a seven-person elected group. On the surface, SB151 doesn't sound all that bad. Electric and natural gas utilities are hardly on most peoples' Christmas card list. As the communications and public relations specialist for Owensboro Municipal Utilities from 1995 to 2000, I've seen firsthand how even the slightest increase in rates--no matter how justified--is hard for the public to swallow.

Indeed, a recent 17% PSC-approved increase in rates from an eastern Kentucky electric utility and the ensuing public outcry caused Appalachian legislators to sponsor SB151. Make no mistake, however, that it's a bad bill. First of all, and even Senator sponsor Ray Jones has admitted, electing the PSC board will not guarantee lower power rates for anyone. Utility costs are heavily driven by personnel, technology and natural resources. Those factors are simply not going to decrease. I don't believe anyone believes the highly-trained men and women working to restore electrical service to our homes and businesses at 2 a.m. following a Kentucky thunderstorm should or would work for minimum wage.

While SB151 supporters are hoping to curry political favor with eastern Kentucky voters, western Kentucky has much to lose. About 20% of the world's aluminum is smelted by producers in western Kentucky, and the process uses extreme amounts of electricity. Big Rivers Electric, based in Henderson, operates the power plants that provide that power. The financial markets where Big Rivers would go to borrow large sums of money to fund improvements to their systems consider elected PSCs to be more "volatile." That, in turn, could lead to higher borrowing costs for Big Rivers and others. That would lead to higher rates for electric consumers, including the aluminum smelters and their thousands of good-paying jobs. The smelters, due to intense foreign competition, will be in danger of leaving the state if such a scenario becomes reality. If the smelters are gone, all residential and commercial customers will see rate increases.

Overshadowing all is the fact that Kentucky's No. 1 economic development advantage has always been its low power rates. Why mess with that? Why become one of only 13 states with an elected PSC, all of which have higher power rates than Kentucky?

SB151 is a bad bill.