The Regulatory Improvement Commission

There are a lot of old and obsolete regulations on the books. This is low-hanging fruit that agencies and Congress could easily pick, but neither has shown much appetite for doing so. The solution: an independent Regulatory Improvement Commission. The idea has been around for at least twenty years, and has garnered bipartisan support.

Senators Angus King (I-Me.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) are introducing a bill that would create just such a commission. Over at The American Spectator, Wayne Crews and I discuss the proposal:

After identifying one area of emphasis — say, technology, or food and drug safety — the Commission would comb the books for outdated, redundant, and inefficient rules in that policy area. Along the way, it would also solicit comments and suggestions from the public and affected industries.

The Commission then works those comments and suggestions into a single legislative package to be sent to the relevant congressional committees. The committees will then have up to 30 days to review the package legislation, but not to scuttle it. After that, it would head to the House and Senate floors for a vote.

The vote would be straight up-or-down, with no amendments allowed. This prevents vote-trading among lawmakers agreeing to save one another’s pet regulations. In other words, no log-rolling allowed. If a member ends up taking political heat for voting in favor of the package, he or she will have plenty of company. All members can rightly say that the total benefits of the package exceed any parochial costs to one’s district.

Read the whole thing here.