Any lawyers in the house?

I am curious to know whether a Department of State government in the US can enact a policy, and make requirements of homeowners if there is no actual legislation behind the policy. In this case, the department is supporting local manufacturers by requiring homeowners to buy replacement parts from that manufacturer, or certain approved vendors, years after purchase. Similar to an automobile manufacturer requiring an oil change facility to buy OEM filters long after the warranty for the car has expired.  (there is a list of approved products but it is not for public consumption and I am not permitted to see it.) 

I have read the legislation thoroughly and there is no mention of this issue, but homeowners are very concerned with the threat of fines, or of being required to remove an unapproved product and replace it with an approved product. This is a regular occurrence, and inspections are often done when a homeowner takes out an unrelated building or renovation permit, or sells the home.  Being caught with a wrong brand of widget can result in issues selling.

Full disclosure: I want to sell our excellent product to these homeowners and the State says I am not allowed. I have never encountered this in any State or Province except Louisiana.

What state agency is promulgating this regulation? I noticed you're from Canada. Is this a Canadian situation? What type of replacement materials are we talkin about? Sounds weird to me

Note that Louisiana law is not based on English Common Law like the rest of our country, but on Swamp Law or Frog Law or something.  Also, corruption rivals Chicago for who's worse.  In your case, if someone accidentally left a bag of money on the table of whoever the guy who decides what's approved, suddenly your product would be approved.  I am not suggesting this, I'm just telling you how it works in the Swampland.

I am a distributor. Doesn't really matter where I am from. My main question is whether a state agency has the power to force behavior and levy fines based on department policy, if there is no actual law on the books.

I don't really want to get anymore specific as I don't think it would be helpfull.

Thanks

In reply to bearmtnmartin :

well, yeah facts do matter.  At the very least it would be helpful if we're talkin US law or Canadian law. Then you have to take it down to statel involved because state laws are different. But to answer your question, a law could be passed that grants regulatory authorization to the executive branch. For example president Trump has authorization to impose regulations for certain industries without the necessity of specific legislative Authority. That's how he signs executive order on things like immigration or environmental issues.

It can get complicated but here is a simplistic example. Under state law it can grant homeowners association certain rights to maintain a subdivision. In an effort to maintain Conformity with appearance, the h o a could dictate that all mailboxes have to be a specific Style. If that style is only available from one supplier they certainly could enact a regulation mandating that the only approved supplier of the conforming mailboxes was a specific company. Therefore you are forced to buy your replacement mailbox from that vendor.

So technically there would be no specific law mandating you buy a certain mailbox but through the regulatory authorization you could be forced to buy from a certain vendor.

I too wonder about regulations versus laws.

T.J. said:

I too wonder about regulations versus laws.

A law can grant legislative Authority to vest specific or general  regulatory authority to a government agency.  For example EPA. OSHA.  The law grants power to agency to enact regulations consistent with the law.  So the law might state we Grant to the EPA the right to regulate how to keep Water Supplies clean and safe. Then the EPA establishes regulations to that in that deal with specific things like dumping waste into the Riverway. No specific law about dumping but EPA establishes regulations they feel are consistent with the general intent of the law. Make sense?

In reply to Ovid_and_Flem :

That part I get, but I don't like it. In effect, the law just punts and lets some unelected bureaucrats make up the regulations and associated penalties for not complying. I think they should have to be laws to be binding on the population.

It's Lousianna. There is no law or statute There is only department policy with enforcement.

T.J. said:

In reply to Ovid_and_Flem :

That part I get, but I don't like it. In effect, the law just punts and lets some unelected bureaucrats make up the regulations and associated penalties for not complying. I think they should have to be laws to be binding on the population.

Well I guess it's a matter of Delegation. Otherwise if it had to be a law with specificity imagine the days and days of pounding out specifics. Without delegating to agencies in charge of the goal it would be all consuming. But usually there are hearings before the agencies for the public to comment on. And of course you can challenge that an agency exceeded its scope of authority

bearmtnmartin said:

It's Lousianna. There is no law or statute There is only department policy with enforcement.

Damn Napoleonic Code. I'm sure up the chain there is some law that authorizes the local agency to make these rules. And I'm sure there's some way to challenge it. The first question is to ask the agency what is the source of their Authority to make and enforce the regulation and penalties.

bearmtnmartin said:

It's Lousianna. There is no law or statute There is only department policy with enforcement.

It would be helpful if you could give me an example of some widget, not your product, and how it is mandated to be used by a certain supplier. Off the top of my head I can think of possible ways to challenge under the Commerce Clause but who knows?

Here is an actual example.

A Louisiana manufacturer supplies a common widget with their product. The widget is available from many sources and is always green. The manufacturer buys from the Widget factory in bulk, and  has his widgets colored brown. No specifications change. Just the color. 

He supplies brown replacement widgets at a large markup from the common green widgets. For the life of the home the owner must buy the brown widget. if an inspection reveals a green widget, even many years later, the homeowner must then purchase the brown version.

In reply to bearmtnmartin :

what agency is mandating brown widget?  What is the rationale for brown over green? Didn't you say something earlier about it being a locally-produced product?