Bad things happen when legislators paint with a broad brush; when they use their fingers and thumbs to paint, things quickly turn ugly.

While artistic beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as the old saying goes, the perception in Concordia Parish and other non-coastal, rural parts of the state of Louisiana is that Act 12 is pretty hideous.

The law, enacted only months after hurricanes Katrina and Rita ripped across parts of Louisiana, is intended to help tighten up Louisiana building codes. Instead of tightening them, however, for rural areas a better description would a stranglehold or perhaps death-grip.

Act 12 requires state-approved inspectors to sign off on home and business construction. While that sounds like a good idea and it looks beautiful if you happen to be an insurance provider, the law really needs revision — quickly.

The problem is that in parts of rural Louisiana, finding a certified, state-approved building inspector can be difficult, if not impossible.

Lawmakers had good intentions when they began slopping around the paint on the legal canvas, but what they created is far from a masterpiece.

Several bills have been proposed for the next legislative session that would attempt to revamp Act 12 and ease the noose it created around the rural portions of the state.

But simply revising the law may not be good enough. This is one canvas that might be best scrapped and begun again.