Republican senators want to crack down on what they consider overly burdensome regulation coming from state agencies. They’re introducing a new bill after a study from George Mason University said Ohio has nearly 250,000 regulatory restrictions in its code.
The new bill would require state agencies to compile their regulatory requirements to be reviewed by a panel of legislators - and then reduce those rules by 30 percent over the next four years.
Republican Senate President Larry Obhof says regulations hinder industries and business development.
“We have a process here that has been designed to allow new regulations instead of maybe as strenuously as possible requiring regulators maybe to explain why they need something and why we should enact it," Obhof said.
If agencies don’t achieve 30 percent reduction, then they have to cut two regulations for every new one they want.
Democratic lawmakers counter that it’s not overregulation but underfunding of programs that can be blamed for a lagging economy.
