As we near the closing days of session, we are seeing more and more policies proposed which would centralize control in state government and silence the voices of local community leaders. I have sponsored a bill, House Bill 1201, to return local control to energy projects which are being sited in our communities with very little say from local leaders.
Before I was a state representative, I was a county board member and a highway commissioner for eight years respectively. I know firsthand that local control is a huge issue because every community in our state is different: different conditions, different needs, different circumstances. As much as possible, decisions should be made by our neighbors, not some far-off bureaucracy trying to impose one-size-fits-all statewide solutions on everyone while ignoring the voices of those most directly affected.
Without a doubt, this is the opposite of good government. Local governments deserve a say in the policies which directly affect their communities. The state should offer advice and help, but at the end of the day the decisions should be made by local leaders accountable to local citizens.