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The overhead of administering a program must be far more than $3. Talk about throwing more money into the incinerator. [Unequal example not meant to draw an e

The overhead of administering a program must be far more than $3. Talk about throwing more money into the incinerator. [Unequal example not meant to draw an exact analogy: Ohio has boat registration for $25 / 3 years for kayaks and canoes. The state loses money on the registration scheme, and the overhead is basically selling a sticker. Unfortunately once these kinds of programs are started the lard that occupies these autocratic (whoops, meant bureaucratic) positions are exceptionally difficult to displace.]

moate 4y ago
So, let's just run through everything here. 1- 1 million bartenders/servers/whatever at 3 bucks a pop sets our year 1 expected return at 3 million dollars. Based on the description other people have put for the program, the state is probably just hosing a web portal with a quiz form that people fill out. Once it's built, you're probably only going to see token updates every year. I would imagine the state, over the long term, could run this for cost or a small profit, especially as you don't seem to factor enforcement fines into the revenue. Further, the page linked in the post claims that the public safety side is also factored into their costs, so reducing over-serving projects to save money overall. 2- This creates a cottage industry of 3rd party tutors. I would guarantee you that this is almost as important to the political will to create this certification as the public safety side. Someone lobbied for this because they can profit off it. Feel whatever way you want about that. TL;dr- It's a "don't text and drive" law. It's an easy piece of "common sense" legislation that politicians can point to as proof that they're trying to help the community be safer and healthier. "Can you put a price on the safety of our state's children?" YMMV as to whether this is actually true.

moate 4y ago

So, let's just run through everything here. 1- 1 million bartenders/servers/whatever at 3 bucks a pop sets our year 1 expected return at 3 million dollars. Based on the description other people have put for the program, the state is probably just hosing a web portal with a quiz form that people fill out. Once it's built, you're probably only going to see token updates every year. I would imagine the state, over the long term, could run this for cost or a small profit, especially as you don't seem to factor enforcement fines into the revenue. Further, the page linked in the post claims that the public safety side is also factored into their costs, so reducing over-serving projects to save money overall. 2- This creates a cottage industry of 3rd party tutors. I would guarantee you that this is almost as important to the political will to create this certification as the public safety side. Someone lobbied for this because they can profit off it. Feel whatever way you want about that. TL;dr- It's a "don't text and drive" law. It's an easy piece of "common sense" legislation that politicians can point to as proof that they're trying to help the community be safer and healthier. "Can you put a price on the safety of our state's children?" YMMV as to whether this is actually true.