Small: REINing in the government Goliath

REINing in the government Goliath

By Jonathan Small

Oklahoma state government’s reach may seem insignificant compared to the gargantuan size of the federal government, but Oklahoma government still has tendrils reaching all segments of our economy.

That’s why it is important for Oklahoma lawmakers to restrain government regulation at the state level even as President Trump does the same thing at the federal level.

Fortunately, Oklahoma legislators have already taken an important step to achieve that goal.

Legislation to reduce state regulation has cleared its first legislative hurdle, receiving bipartisan support in the House Administrative Rules Committee.

House Bill 2728, by state Rep. Gerrid Kendrix, creates the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act of 2025.

Under the bill, a Legislative Economic Analysis Unit (LEAU) will be created within the existing Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT) to independently review and assess the economic impact of major rules proposed by state agencies. This will help lawmakers identify potentially crushing regulations.

The legislation defines “major rule” to include any agency rule with an economic impact of $1 million or more within five years.

Under HB 2728, a major rule cannot take effect unless it is explicitly approved by both chambers of the Legislature.

That will mark a dramatic change from current practice. Under existing law, all administrative rules go into effect unless specifically rejected by the Legislature or governor.

Agencies have submitted 266 packets this year, totaling thousands of pages of proposed regulations. Lawmakers struggle to simply read all those pages, let alone find and reject the worst proposals.

According to the 2024 edition of “Snapshots of State Regulations,” issued by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Oklahoma is now the 17th-most regulated state in the country with 142,313 regulations on the books. Idaho, the nation’s least-regulated state, has just 31,497 regulations in place.

Other states that have adopted similar REINS laws have seen a major reduction in regulation.

Kendrix noted Florida adopted a similar law in 2010.

“Since 2010, they’ve seen a 51-percent decrease in the number of rules that are being proposed through the administrative process,” Kendrix said. “That’s what we need to see.”

He said the goal of HB 2728 is to “make sure that the administrative rule process does not become a fourth branch of government.”

House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, said, “It’s the Legislature’s duty to ensure that the rules governing our people are practical and accountable,” and called the REINS Act “a crucial first step toward a better system.”

Yes, it is. Our nation’s founding fathers sought to separate power so that the legislative branch made law while the executive branch enforced the law. We don’t need unelected agency bureaucrats effectively writing new laws at the state level. Oklahomans should hope HB 2728 quickly becomes law.

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