Thursday, March 24, 2011

Regulatory reform bill - moves forward

Wednesday the Senate Business, Labor & Technology Committee unanimously passed Senate Bill 11-167, legislation that requires a task force to offer recommendations on how to drive down compliance costs for businesses, in order to create a more job friendly environment in Colorado.

“This bill was crafted after meeting with business leaders across the state,” said bill sponsor Senator Mike Kopp, R-Littleton. “By removing burdensome regulations we can create a roadmap to building a stronger Colorado economy where vibrant job-growth becomes the new norm.”

Earlier this year Republican leaders held a meeting with employers across the state to identify ways to reduce the regulatory burden on businesses. Senate Bill 11-167 was a product of this meeting.

“We have not thoroughly evaluated our state’s regulatory policies and businesses are paying the price. If we truly believe our first priority is job creation, we need to thoughtfully and methodically enact this important legislation,” concluded Kopp.

The task force created by Senate Bill 11-167 will review the state's regulatory system and make recommendations related to whether: The current system creates a regulatory advantage to one segment of an industry at the expense of another; The existing availability of cost benefit analysis needs strengthening in order to produce meaningful measures of adverse impacts on consumers and private industry; The enforcement practices of the current system, if any, create perverse incentives for unreasonably punitive fines and penalties on private parties; Economic conditions merit a downsizing of the regulatory body with a resulting reduction of financial compliance costs; A particular regulated industry is regulated in an outmoded form of regulation that is no longer advisable; Currently regulated industries are regulated by other means; Continued regulation of the industry is justified; The current system regulates fewer businesses than it did in a previous state fiscal year; and Compliance costs could be reduced or eliminated at no risk to the public welfare or environment and at no risk of creating or protecting a monopoly.

No comments:

Post a Comment