Kansas REINS Act overrides governor’s veto

Advocates for government accountability recently scored a big win with the passage of House Bill 2648 in Kansas. The Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act would require the Kansas state legislature to ratify any executive branch regulations estimated to cost over one million dollars in a five-year timespan.

Although Democratic Governor Laura Kelly originally vetoed the bill, the state senate overrode it, 27-12.

Th REINS Act is not as radical as its opponents fear, though. If a rule fails to pass the legislature, agencies could potentially still implement it if, upon reevaluation, they find costs to fall below the one-million-dollar threshold over five years.

The main benefit of the bill is that it will contribute to an “office of no” environment, where not passing regulation is the default. Major rules that do pass will be the result of compromise and deliberation in the state legislature, which is how government is supposed to work.

The bill would also place another check on the state’s executive branch and the unelected bureaucrats who run it. Now that elected representatives can vet potentially burdensome regulations and ensure rules are necessary before they pass, it will be more difficult for government agencies to direct every aspect of business in Kansas.

William Wilk, the Senior Director of Government Affairs of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce echoed this idea.

“Businesses want the government to get out of the way and let them do their work, and if the government is proposing new regulations, this is just a double check to make sure that those regulations don’t create an unnecessary burden on businesses.”

Kansas is not the first state to implement a state-level REINS Act. Florida, Wisconsin, and Indiana have all passed ratification requirements for rules with annual cost thresholds varying from one million to ten million.

These bills are state-level versions of the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act, introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) and in the Senate by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). On the federal level, the REINS Act would require congressional approval for the passage of major rules, which are defined as those with over $100 million in estimated economic effects. This stipulation would reinforce the separation of powers, a step becoming increasingly necessary as the executive branch is ceded unconstitutional legislative and judicial authority by Congress.

So far, the REINS Act has passed the House of Representatives and has been introduced in the Senate.

If the US Senate and other states follow Kansas’s example, Bill 2648 could represent a win not only for Kansans, but for all Americans.

For more on the federal REINS Act, see this CEI paper.