It is MY Garden

I’ve been an advocate to getting the legislature back and weighing in on the Governor’s decisions. But this weekend I found a good reason to keep them out of Springfield.

House Bill 4704, assigned in March to committee, is most disturbing and illustrates a clueless approach to lawmaking. Eighteen representatives have signed on the “Right To Garden Act.” Who is against the right to garden?

That is a highly deceptive name. The preamble is fine. But read 27 lines into the proposed bill and you find this line: “The state or a unit of local government may regulate gardens on residential property unless a statute or regulation has the practical effect of precluding gardens on residential property entirely.”

Let me just state for the record. I like vegetables. I might want to plant some tomatoes in my back yard. How many of you think the city or the state should be allowed to regulate personal gardens on personal property?

Well, there are eighteen state lawmakers that think it’s a good idea. If passed in its present form, that’s exactly what it would do.

The bill also deals with the product of one’s garden saying it can only be consumed by the owner. If I want to give a radish to my son, it's my business….not the government’s. . 

House Bill 4704. Read it. I know some state representatives who haven’t.