Small: Proposals could cut red tape in Oklahoma

Proposals could cut red tape in Oklahoma

By Jonathan Small

Despite being a conservative electorate, Oklahomans still face more state regulations than citizens in most other states. The accumulation of those rules impedes economic growth and job creation.

Fortunately, legislative leaders are preparing to tackle this problem.

At a recent meeting jointly led by state Rep. Gerrid Kendrix and state Sen. Micheal Bergstrom, who each chair their respective chamber’s administrative rules committee, lawmakers reviewed initiatives that have pared down regulations elsewhere.

Experts told lawmakers they need to create an independent entity to evaluate agency regulations, require proactive legislative approval of new regulations that impose costs above a certain threshold, and require the repeal of outdated and unnecessary regulations every time a new regulation is added.

According to the 2024 “Snapshots of State Regulations,” issued by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Oklahoma is the 17th-most regulated state in the country with 142,313 regulations. That’s more than traditionally liberal states such as Minnesota, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Idaho, the nation’s least-regulated state, has just 31,497 regulations.

One reason regulations pile up so readily in Oklahoma is because our current system of legislative review does not allow lawmakers time to actually do the job.

Bergstrom noted the Legislature receives roughly 400 packets of proposed new agency rules each session. Most packets run anywhere from 10 pages apiece to hundreds.

As chairman, Bergstrom said his goal is to read every packet submitted, but he has “not been able to do it” because of the workload and time constraints.

“It’s just too much,” Bergstrom said.

Officials encouraged lawmakers to have an independent entity aid the review process, as has been done elsewhere. Creating a new division within Oklahoma’s Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT) is one option.

Several officials also called on Oklahoma legislators to adopt a “Rules from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny” (REINS) Act, which would require legislators to give proactive approval to any new regulations that impose private-sector costs above a certain threshold.

Wisconsin and Florida have had REINS laws in place for several years with significant success. Florida reduced the number of annual proposed new regulations by 51 percent after adopting a REINS Act, and a study concluded the REINS Act has effectively reduced Florida’s regulatory costs by $2 billion since 2010.

If lawmakers do not address excessive regulation, Daniel Dew, legal director for the Pacific Legal Foundation, warned they will effectively cede enormous government power to “some mid-level bureaucrat in a basement somewhere” whose draft regulation can easily cost Oklahomans their liberty and property without anyone casing a vote.

Dew is right.

Oklahoma has enjoyed healthy economic growth and job creation in recent years. We are on the right path. But we should still clear out regulatory underbrush and allow even stronger growth to occur.

Jonathan Small serves as president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.