The General Assembly’s Joint Legislative Regulatory Reform Committee (Reform Committee) held its first meeting on November 18, 2011.  The Reform Committee was created earlier this year by Senate Joint Resolution 17.  On June 24, the duties of the Joint Legislative Administrative Procedures Oversight Committee were transferred to the Reform Committee by H 595.  The new committee is charged with reforming the administrative law process, not just oversight.

The Reform Committee is tasked with:

• Receiving input from the public/people regulated by state agencies and licensing boards regarding unduly burdensome rules that may be an impediment to private sector job creation
• Evaluating that input and determine which suggestions warrant introduction as legislation during the “short session” which begins on May 16, 2012 or in the next session which begins in early 2013
• Reviewing the activities of occupational licensing boards to determine if the board is operating in accordance with statutory requirements and if the board is still necessary to achieve the purposes for which it was created
• Reviewing regulatory programs in all state agencies and licensing boards to determine if the programs overlap and could be simplified.

The agenda for the November 18th meeting included a:

• Primer on the process for promulgating an administrative rule
• Report by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources on its tiered enforcement program
• PowerPoint presentation by the Office of State Budget and Management on the repeal of obsolete rules and the decrease in rule-making activity by the Governor’s Cabinet agencies since the Governor issued Executive Order 70.

The Reform Committee is scheduled to meet, prior to the beginning of the “short session” of the General Assembly, on January 24, February 21, March 20, and April 17, 2012.  All of the meetings are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. and will be held at the Legislative Building.

We will be monitoring the meetings.