Businesses Prepared to Partner with State to Improve Regulatory Climate

For years, the legislature and state agencies have struggled to find ways to make Connecticut’s regulatory climate more conducive for economic growth.
The agencies, however, often cite cost and personnel as obstacles to comprehensively updating their regulations to be clearer, more consistent with federal requirements, and more aligned with current technologies and business practices.
So why not turn to the businesses that must follow these regulations for suggestions on how to improve them?
Currently, a draft proposal is calling for the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to annually solicit from businesses a list of up to three high-priority regulatory concerns and suggestions to address them.
Lawmakers may consider extending this proposal to other agencies whose regulations impact–and sometimes hamper–state businesses.
Under the proposal, the agencies would request from the regulated community a list of up to three high-priority regulatory concerns that should be changed.

The agency would then have 90 days to meet with those that raised the concerns, and 180 more days to determine whether and how it plans to address them.
This proposal helps ensure agencies concentrate their limited resources on those regulatory matters that cause economic challenges for Connecticut businesses.
It also places the burden on the regulated community, rather than the agency, to identify key concerns, share them with the agency, provide language it feels will address the concerns, and lead the effort to get the revisions through the regulatory process.
This model is already being tested with a narrow change to DEEP’s regulations that will help small and large manufacturers address a specific waste-management need.
CBIA is also working with the Governor's office and legislators to implement other measures that will help improve the state's regulatory climate.
These include making it easier for businesses to determine whether a proposed regulation would impact them, and a proposal that would waive penalties for certain first time regulatory violations that are quickly corrected by the company.

---

For more information, contact CBIA’s Eric Brown (860.244.1926) | @CBIAericb