Late last week, the Common Sense Initiative Office released its 2018 Annual Report and once again, it showed the importance the office plays in creating a pro-business regulatory environment in our state.
This office, created in 2011 by Governor John Kasich and overseen by Lieutenant Governor Mary Taylor, has reviewed nearly 15,000 rules impacting businesses and 61% of those rules have been either amended or rescinded. As for the 2018 report, the numbers continue that trend as over 60% of the rules were amended or rescinded. The consistency with which CSI has operated since its inception show its impact in the rulemaking process ensuring that regulations that are placed on Ohio businesses are more effective and less burdensome.
The Ohio Chamber has long supported CSI, starting with Senate Bill 2 which created the office in 2011, and then two years later with Senate Bill 3, which made additional changes to the rulemaking process and brought no change rules under the same scrutiny as new rules. Additionally, we championed Senate Bill 221 in the 132nd General Assembly, which will become law in early 2019.
SB 221 served as a vital next step in rule and regulatory reform with one of the major portions of the bill being that it added an additional criterion to what constitutes an adverse impact on business. Along with the three criterion that already exist in code, the following was added, “the impact of the rule would be likely to directly reduce the revenue or increase the expenses of the lines of business to which it will apply or applies.” This adds another tool to CSI as they review rules and allows for them to consider further the potentially negative impact a rule would have on Ohio’s businesses and make proper amendments to the rule or rescind it.
CSI has been extremely effective under Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor and just this week, Governor-elect Mike DeWine announced that Lieutenant Governor-elect Jon Husted will head up CSI in the next administration. We look forward to working with him to ensure that Ohio continues to have a regulatory environment that is business friendly.