EDITORIAL
Help us identify senseless regulations

The U.S. Department of Transportation is putting airport security measures through a "stupid-rule review" to weed out policies that don't make sense and just hassle passengers.

That's an admirable cause. We'd go even further to recommend that government institutions and perhaps even private corporations launch a "stupid-rule review" once every two to five years.

A "stupid rule" is a policy that fails to meet its intended purpose or has outlived its usefulness and has negative consequences as a result. Of course, the perception of what is and what isn't rational can be somewhat subjective, so we're on the lookout for rules that are utterly pointless no matter which way you look at them.

If you have such an example, please e-mail us at letters@honoluluadvertiser.com. You can also use our online form. Here are some examples:

• Schools superintendent Pat Hamamoto has questioned why the state Department of Accounting and General Services requires each new portable classroom to go through a design and construction process, even though all portable classrooms are built virtually the same.

• Animal lovers are upset by the stipulation that if they want their pets to endure only a month of quarantine when they move to the Islands, then the pet must pass a battery of tests and certifications three months ahead of arrival.

But what if the pet-owner doesn't have three months notice, say, because they're taking a new job immediately?

If they fail to meet that three-month-in-advance requirement, the Hawai'i Agriculture Department will quarantine their pet for 120 days, no exceptions, at a cost of $1,080.

This isn't an argument against quarantine per se, nor is it in any way meant to diminish the seriousness of rabies. It's just to make the point that some rules make great sense in theory but don't work out in the practical real world.

And here's a rule that makes sense but isn't strictly observed on interisland flights: Passengers and their luggage are supposed to travel on the same flight. The rationale is that a terrorist could check in a bag with a bomb and not fly.

However, passengers who check in early for interisland flights oftentimes find their luggage waiting for them at the carousel because their luggage was loaded onto an earlier flight.

So much for that rule.