Legislature, Governor Seek to Improve State’s Regulatory Climate

Making Connecticut one of the nation’s top states for business investment and job creation will require continuing to improve our regulatory climate.  Fortunately, bipartisan efforts are underway in both the executive and legislative branches to address this critical issue.

Executive Order

Last October, Gov. Malloy issued an executive order to begin addressing two aspects of the issue.

First, he launched a public and agency review of existing regulations to identify those that are “outdated, unnecessarily burdensome, insufficient or ineffective.” That effort is still going on with state agencies now reviewing hundreds of public comments and developing specific proposals for change. 

The executive order also aims to make sure that new state regulations under the current administration are developed efficiently and achieve their goals in the least burdensome manner to those impacted by the regulations–including manufacturers and other businesses.

Legislative Proposals

The legislature’s Government Administration and Elections Committee is considering two bills that would advance the governor’s efforts by:

• Putting into law the regulatory efficiency measures contained in the governor’s executive order, for this and future administrations
• Simplifying the regulatory approval process for proposed regulations that are considered non-controversial

This week, the committee approved moving forward with both bills. The first, codifying the executive order, is currently being drafted and soon will be published for public hearing. It’s expected to require agencies, when developing regulations with potentially significant impacts, to:

• Explain why additional regulation is needed and the policy goals they intended to advance
• Assess the benefits and the costs
• Use the least burdensome means to accomplish the policy objectives
• Assess how the regulations will encourage economic progress and the development of jobs
• Use economic incentives, performance standards or other innovative tools that lessen the burden of the regulations  
• Write the regulations in plain, easy-to-understand language  

Non-Controversial

A second bill (HB 5049) will allow proposed regulations that are noncontroversial to become effective soon after notice of the proposal is published, if: 

1. the commissioner of the agency issuing the proposal reasonably anticipates the proposal will not be opposed by those affected by it, and
2. no objection to the proposal is received within 30 days of publishing notice that the regulation is being proposed.

A public hearing on these proposals is expected within the next two weeks.

CBIA is working with its members and other organizations to provide comments for improving the proposals. We look forward to working with the governor’s office and all legislators to collectively and effectively address this important component of making Connecticut a top 20 state by 2017. 

To learn more about the regulatory reform initiatives mentioned in this article, contact Eric Brown at eric.brown@cbia.com.