Regulatory reduction pilot program; Department of Planning and Budget to implement, report. (SB20)

Introduced By

Sen. Amanda Chase (R-Midlothian)

Progress

Introduced
Passed Committee
Passed House
Passed Senate
Signed by Governor
Became Law

Description

Department of Planning and Budget; regulatory reduction pilot program; report. Directs the Department of Planning and Budget (the Department), under the supervision of the Secretary of Finance (the Secretary), to administer a three-year regulatory reduction pilot program aimed at reducing by 25 percent the regulations and regulatory requirements, as defined in the bill, of the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation and the Department of Criminal Justice Services by July 1, 2021. The bill requires the Secretary to report annually to the Speaker of the House and the Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee no later than October 1, 2019, and October 1, 2020, on the progress of the regulatory reduction pilot program. The bill also requires the Secretary to report by August 15, 2021, to the Speaker of the House and the Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee (i) the progress toward identifying the 25 percent reduction goal, (ii) recommendations for expanding the program to other agencies, and (iii) any additional information the Secretary determines may be helpful to support the General Assembly's regulatory reduction and reform efforts. The bill provides that if, by October 1, 2021, the program has achieved less than a 25 percent total reduction in regulations and regulatory requirements across both pilot agencies, the Secretary shall report on the feasibility and effectiveness of implementing a 2-for-1 regulatory budget providing that for every one new regulatory requirement, two existing regulatory requirements of equivalent or greater burden must be streamlined, repealed, or replaced for a period not to exceed three years. Lastly, the bill directs all executive branch agencies subject to the Administrative Process Act (§ 2.2-4000 et seq.) to develop a baseline regulatory catalog and report such catalog data to the Department, which shall then track and report on the extent to which agencies comply with existing requirements to periodically review all regulations every four years. This bill is identical to HB 883. Read the Bill »

Outcome

Bill Has Passed

History

DateAction
11/20/2017Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18100264D
11/20/2017Referred to Committee on Rules
02/09/2018Reported from Rules with substitute (14-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/09/2018Committee substitute printed 18106556D-S1
02/10/2018Impact statement from DPB (SB20S1)
02/12/2018Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/13/2018Read second time
02/13/2018Reading of substitute waived
02/13/2018Committee substitute agreed to 18106556D-S1
02/13/2018Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB20S1
02/13/2018Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/13/2018Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/19/2018Placed on Calendar
02/19/2018Read first time
02/19/2018Referred to Committee on Appropriations
02/21/2018Reported from Appropriations with amendment (22-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/23/2018Read second time
02/26/2018Read third time
02/26/2018Committee amendment agreed to
02/26/2018Engrossed by House as amended
02/26/2018Passed House with amendment (94-Y 4-N)
02/26/2018VOTE: PASSAGE (94-Y 4-N) (see vote tally)
02/28/2018Passed by temporarily
02/28/2018House amendment agreed to by Senate (40-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
03/05/2018Enrolled
03/05/2018Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB20ER)
03/05/2018Signed by Speaker
03/06/2018Impact statement from DPB (SB20ER)
03/07/2018Impact statement from DPB (SB20ER)
03/08/2018Signed by President
03/14/2018Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 14, 2018
03/14/2018G Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, April 9, 2018
03/23/2018G Approved by Governor-Chapter 445 (effective 7/1/18)
03/23/2018G Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0445)

Comments

Waldo Jaquith writes:

The bill prohibits the Commission from approving a new regulation unless it replaces or repeals at least two existing regulations, until the total baseline has been reduced by 35 percent.

Look, this isn't how regulation works. The effect of this will be to have longer, more complicated regulations, doing the work of 1, 2, 3, or 10 regulations now. At the moment, our regulations are fairly atomic—one regulation defines terms, another makes a policy statement about the application of those terms, another defines the scope of the group of regulations, and a fourth is the regulation with teeth. The effect of this bill will be to force agencies to combine all of these into a single regulation, in order work within a goofy and arbitrary requirement. This will make regulations harder to understand and comply with, not easier.

This was a law written by somebody with zero regulatory experience. It will backfire badly, if passed into law.