Earlier this week, the Mercatus Center published a report about the state of Idaho that outlined how the Gem (why not Potato?) State took a sledgehammer to regulations and, basically, started over. From the Mercatus Center:
“The state legislature opted to—in essence—repeal the entire state regulatory code. The cause may have been dysfunction across legislative chambers, but the result is serendipitous. A new governor is presented with an unprecedented opportunity to repeal an outdated and burdensome regulatory code and replace it with a more streamlined and sensible set of rules.”
Of course, this only works if you don’t have a governor and state legislature that wants to regulate every industry into oblivion. We have a governor and legislature that wants to regulate every industry into oblivion. But, according to the article, the dynamics of regulation have changed:
“Previously, each rule the governor wanted cut would have had to be justified as a new rulemaking action; now, every regulation that agencies want to keep has to be justified. The burden of proof has switched.”
Colorado should strive to be more like Idaho in cutting burdensome regulations instead of piling more on. We won’t hold our breath, at least not with this legislature.