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EXAMPLES FOR CRITICAL THINKING IN THE NEWS
http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/04/news/economy/state_regulation_repeal_governor/index.htm
SEE MOTORCYCLE HELMETS---SEAT BELTS
States look to repeal 'job-killing'regulations
Dennis Taylor isKansas' newly appointed Repealer. By Tami Luhby, senior writerMarch 4, 2011: 5:40 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- He is known as The Repealer • Dennis Taylor's job is to repeal burdensome and outdated
regulations that hinder business development in Kansas.Print
The Sunflower State is only one of several looking to lessen what they call the regulatory
burden on their states. Offices designed to repeal, review or "reinvent" regulations are
sprouting up across the country.
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Some states, such as Kansas and Michigan, are reviewing rules to see which ones need to
be eliminated. Others, including Florida, are going a step further and freezing new rule-
making while examining existing regulations.
The Republican governors are mirroring efforts at the federal level to review and discard
barriers to employment growth. Both President Obama and the House of Representatives
are looking to lighten the regulatory load on companies. After a lawmaker asked for
examples of burdensome federal regulations, businesses responded with a nearly 2,000-
page list of rules they'd like eliminated.
The Office of the Repealer
Taylor and his Office of the Repealer are a key part of Gov. Sam Brownback's effort to spur
job creation and economic expansion.
"If you regulate something to too great a degree, folks who are creating businesses mightmove somewhere else," said Taylor. "Certain things outlive their usefulness."
In coming days, the state will post a web site where "aggrieved citizens" -- including
residents and businesses -- can suggest regulations they want reviewed. Already, Taylor has
received more than three dozen suggestions from companies and social service agencies.
One man, for instance, dropped by to voice his concerns about industrial health and safety
regulations at his company, which employs 25 people. He told Taylor that he was concerned
about the repeated visits from inspectors and the potential for fines hanging over him.
How to fix a budget crisis? Cut taxes!
Taylor's team will run a cost-benefit analysis on each rule brought to their attention. The
Repealer admitted he is still "feeling my way" through exactly how to determine whether a
regulation is burdensome. He plans to reach out to agencies and the public for input.
One thing he promises, however, is that he will keep consumer protection top of mind. He
will not abolish rules without giving the public the opportunity to defend them.
"One person's interference is another person's protection," said Taylor, a lawyer who has
worked in all levels of government for the past 25 years. "It's always a balance."
Reviewing every rule
In Michigan, the newly created Office of Regulatory Reinvention will look at the thousands of
rules, as well as informal actions and guidelines, that state agencies enforce.
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The initiative is part of a broader reorganization of the Department of Energy, Labor and
Economic Growth, which is now being called the Department of Licensing and Regulatory
Affairs.
To lead the effort, Gov. Rick Snyder appointed Steve Hilfinger, a lawyer who has worked in
corporate restructuring in Detroit for the past decade. After cataloging Michigan's regulations,
Hilfinger's office will recommend to the governor which ones should be amended or
repealed. Also, he will have to sign off on any new regulations before they take effect.
The goal is to make regulations "more simple, fair, efficient and transparent" and to make
sure they don't hinder job creation, Hilfinger said. Some rules, for instance, may no longer
make sense because of advances in technology. Others may exceed federal standards.
But, public safety will be the No. one priority.
"We consider rules that protect health and safety to be of paramount importance," he said.
Business leaders list the red tape they want cut
Meanwhile, in Florida, Gov. Rick Scott wasted no time cracking down on regulations.
One of his first officials acts after taking office in January was "to freeze job-killing
regulations" and to "re-examine every regulation to make sure its benefits outweigh its
costs," he said.
"Unless they are pruned, regulations grow like weeds," he said in his inaugural address. "Wewill conduct a top-to-bottom review of all state regulations and weed out unnecessary ones
that hinde
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TEXAS EXAMPLES
http://www.dallasnews.com/business/small-business/20091208-Institute-for-Justice-report-says-Texas-4380.ece
Institute for Justice report says Texas is over-regulating businesses, but others disputefindings
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By SHERYL JEAN / The Dallas Morning News
Published 08 December 2009 10:15 AM
Some of Texas' business licensing laws are "ridiculous" and hurt the state's
economy and entrepreneurial spirit by making it difficult for people to start a
business, according to a report released Tuesday by the Institute for
Justice, a Virginia-based Libertarian public interest law firm.
The report says businesses are over-regulated by laws that "protect existing
industries from competition," increase costs for entrepreneurs and raise prices for
consumers.
The number of nonalcohol-related occupations licensed in Texas has risen to
514 from 43 in 1945, according to the report.
Nationally, it noted a trend toward more licensing.
"Texas has an amazing history of inviting and inspiring entrepreneurs," said
Wesley Hottot, the report's author and staff lawyer for the institute's chapter in
Austin. "Unfortunately, the tide seems to be turning away from a presumption of
liberty to a presumption of licensing."
Joseph Picken, executive director of University of Texas at Dallas' Institute for
Innovation and Entrepreneurship, criticized the report.
"This is obviously an agenda with lots of value judgments," he said. "It draws
conclusions that this is a threat to entrepreneurship in Texas, but these are not
significant entrepreneurial companies that create multiple jobs."
Forbes, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and U.S. News and World
Report all rank Texas as one of the best states to start a business.
The Institute for Justice's report focused on five occupations - child exercise
centers, cosmetology, horse care, the arts and private security. It featured
several business owners in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
One of them is Isis Brantley, owner of the Institute for Ancestral Braiding in Oak
Cliff . She fought state cosmetology regulators for 12 years before her business
was grandfathered in 2007.
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The state cited her twice for practicing cosmetology without a license, arrested
her and sued her. She challenged that the state licensing law didn't address
cultural hair braiding.
"I think the law is crazy," Brantley said. "My business was grandfathered;however, it has suffered for 14 years."
The institute's recommendations include reviewing occupational licensing,
eliminating certain regulations or adding exemptions, and establishing a
complaint hotline.
In addition to the report, the institute and eight Texas entrepreneurs who pluck
eyebrows using a process called threading filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Travis
County District Court over licensing regulations.
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http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/02/08/Issas-List-Five-Biggest-Job-
Killers.aspx
Issa’s List: 'Five Biggest Job Killing Regulations'
Photo: iStockphoto.com/PERETS
By LOUIS PECK, The Fiscal TimesFebruary 8, 2011
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The latest mantra in Washington is that excessive government regulations are smotheringthe economic recovery. Just yesterday, President Obama told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that he has ordered a review to weed out rules that are “needlessly stifling jobcreation and growth.”So what are these regulations that are snuffing out economic growth and job creation justwhen we need it most? House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman
Darrell Issa, R-Calif., invited nearly 150 corporations and trade associations to identifycurrent or proposed regulations that have had a negative effect on job growth.
On Monday, Issa released more than 200 responses to his queries. Based on a Fiscal Timesanalysis of the complaints of some of the most prominent or influential corporate groups –including the Business Roundtable and the National Association and Manufacturers, here isthe list of regulations that they claim constitute “The Five Biggest Job Killers.”
• Ozone Standards. Four years after the Bush administrationfinalized limits on ground-level ozone under the Clean Air Act, theObama administration – responding to an ongoing court case – hasopened the door to tightening current ozone limits by as much as 20
percent. The NAM cited one study contending that such a move couldresult in a loss of 7.3 million jobs between now and 2020. TheEnvironmental Protection Agency is slated to make a final decision onthe rule by the summer of 2012.• Industrial and Commercial Boiler Emissions. EPA is in thebull’s-eye on this one, too, with the Council of Industrial Boiler Ownerssaying that a proposed rule to clamp down on boiler emissions couldput nearly 340,000 jobs on the line, and cost more than $20 billion incompliance costs to industry – double EPA’s estimate. This issue alsohas landed in court, with EPA under orders to come up with a finalrule this month. • Export Controls. Saying that U.S. exports control regulations“have not been significantly revised since the Cold War,” the NAM
cited figures from the Washington-based Milken Institute – whichestimates that a “modernization” of such regulations could increaseU.S. high-tech exports by $60 billion and create 350,000 new jobs.“We applaud the Obama administration for the steps it has taken thusfar to modernize the export control system, but more is needed toimprove the system … to protect manufacturing jobs,” NAM said in itsletter to Issa.• Trading In Financial Derivatives. Last year’s overhaul of thenation’s financial regulatory system – the Dodd-Frank bill – placednew regulations on trading in often complex financial derivatives. Thebill does provide some exemptions from these regulations for so-called end-users – non-financial firms who contend that they use
derivatives to manage financial risk rather than create it. But, asseveral federal agencies seek to finalize these regulations by mid-year, the end users are concerned about being forced to maintainlarge financial reserves – with the Business Roundtable contendingthat a 3 percent “margin requirement” on such firms could mean atotal loss of 100,000 jobs, as well as tying up an average of nearly$270 million for an involved business.• Livestock Marketing . Marketing-related regulations arising outof the 2008 farm bill could mean a loss of 100,000 jobs in the meat,
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livestock and related industries, according to a letter to Issa from theAmerican Meat Institute – which represents meat packers andprocessors. The proposed rules would make packers and suppliersmore reluctant to utilize certain marketing agreements, and “goes wellbeyond the mandate … given by Congress in the 2008 farm bill,” AMIsaid. The letter also contended that the Agriculture Department has
yet to conduct a “sound economic analysis” of the rule.
Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the oversight committee’s ranking Democrat, said the
information collected by Issa was one-sided. He complained thatthe Republican majority "requested only information regardingthe potential costs of regulation – and no information regardingthe key benefits to health and safety."
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Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the oversight committee’s ranking Democrat, said
the information collected by Issa was one-sided. He complained that the Republican
majority "requested only information regarding the potential costs of regulation – and no
information regarding the key benefits to health and safety."
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