Red Tape

“California Squeeze: The Red-Tape Mummy” (editorial, May 16) was almost on the mark. Your only mistake was to mischaracterize the extent to which red tape is strangling the California economy. We are not just having trouble breathing, we are suffocating.

I have to deal with the laws that SB 1082 and SB 919 are intended to fix, and I know something has to be done about the Byzantine system we’ve burdened ourselves with. Eliminating the duplicative morass in our current system is a good place to start. We have to stop stifling the entrepreneurial spirit and innovation we so desperately need to reinvigorate this economy. And, I sincerely believe we don’t have to forsake environmental goals in the process.

DERENCE V. FIVEHOUSE

Irvine

* Your editorial was a timely condemnation of a regulatory system that has strangled business and job growth for far too long. Regulatory overlap is a major contributor to the growing ranks of companies that can no longer afford to remain in our state. And who knows how many potential jobs California has lost to companies which, in the face of regulatory delays, hassles and duplication, opt to conduct business elsewhere.

The time is now for state legislators to work together to cut red tape. SB 1082, SB 919 and AB 1313 contain provisions that will put us on the right track, and will help keep jobs here.

DAVID TIERNEY

Santa Monica