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New state laws aim to reduce red tape for small businesses

Courtesy: Office of the Governor

Governor Markell signed three bills Wednesday aimed at continuing state efforts to cut back on regulatory red tape and burdens on small businesses.

One of the bills asks state agencies to review their regulations every four years to see what can be pared down. Markell says it codifies a practice they first ordered in 2012.

"A lot of regulations are very valuable; some regulations don't really achieve very much and in fact can impede business growth. And so we just need to be thoughtful about that," he says. "We think it's very appropriate that from time to time, agencies take a look at the regulations that are on the books see if they're accomplishing an objective, and if they're not or if they're harmful, then maybe it's time to change them or get rid of them."

The first audits will have to take place by 2016.

The other bills the governor signed go hand in hand with the same mission -- asking agencies to release the costs of complying with new laws and analyze ways to achieve the same goal more easily.

Rather than requiring things like specific pollution control equipment, Markell says agencies should be asking businesses to meet performance standards on their own terms.

"And you can be creative about how you get that done -- but you need to get it done. And that's what you're gonna be held accountable to," he says. "So I think that is a conversation that's worth having, and that gets at the regulatory flexibility piece -- are there better ways of accomplishing some of our societal objectives than being highly prescriptive? And that's really what that's all about."

That pair of bills is known as the Regulatory Transparency and Accountability Act of 2015. It saw bipartisan support in the state legislature this year.

 

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