Earlier this week, the Ohio Chamber offered their support to Senate Bill 9; legislation that would reduce the overall regulatory burden faced by businesses.
The Chamber’s support for SB 9 is relative to the cost and resources that are attached to government bureaucracy and “red tape.” Regulations impact businesses of all sizes, but severely impact small businesses who often times lack the resources to comply with the ever-changing regulatory environment.
That’s why the Chamber has always supported maximizing regulatory benefits in the most cost-effective manner, and firmly believes that businesses should be able to operate and innovate without intrusive government mandates.
In 2011, we supported SB 2, which created the Common Sense Initiative Office (CSI). The changes this bill made to the rules process have resulted in a significant, positive difference in the way in which rules are developed and distributed to the general public. Specifically, the Business Regulation Impact Analysis required with each rule package is an important tool that ensures the real-world costs of implementing a new rule are known. Two years later, we supported SB 3, which made additional changes to the rule making process and brought no change rules under the same scrutiny as new rules.
Then, in the 132nd General Assembly, the legislature passed SB 221, which served as another vital step in rule and regulatory reform following in the same footsteps as SB 2 and SB 3.
Now, SB 9 would represent another huge step forward by requiring the reduction of regulatory restrictions by 30% by 2024. The other major provision in SB 9, the “2-for-1” provision, was included in the Main Operating Budget in the 133rd General Assembly. One remaining portion of SB 9 that we would like to draw attention to is the inclusion of a web portal that would allow for Ohio businesses to directly identify specific regulations that are particularly irksome for them.
The Chamber believes that SB 9 can help businesses who operate in Ohio by reducing the overall regulatory burden. At the same time, we acknowledge that a 30% reduction for each agency may be difficult to accomplish. However, in order to increase economic competitiveness, encourage free enterprise, and create the best economic environment for businesses to thrive in our state, reduction of overall regulations is an important objective.
We are hopeful that Senate Bill 9 will move through the legislative process quickly and ultimately signed into law in order to provide much-needed regulatory relief for Ohio businesses.