Iowa Senate seeks to track impact of regulations on jobs

DES MOINES - Legislative Republicans began work Wednesday to deliver on a campaign promise to ease the burden of government regulation.

A Senate subcommittee voted unanimously to require that every administrative rule proposed by a state agency or department be accompanied by a jobs impact statement which outlines its purpose and statutory authority and details the affect on state agencies, local governments, the public and the regulated entities, businesses and self-employed individuals.

'It is intended to keep government in check in general,” said Sen. Bill Anderson, R-Pierson, one of 29 majority Republicans who co-sponsored Senate File 1 - a measure that 'codifies” an executive order that was put in place by Gov. Terry Branstad in March 2011 to build a 'job-friendly environment” for new government rules and regulations.

Branstad said the executive order was designed to identify policies that hurt jobs before they impact job retention and development by ensuring that state government's eyes are affixed on job-related impacts when issuing rules and regulations.

Anderson said the practice has worked since the governor returned to office in 2011, but legislators want to make the requirement part of state law in case a future governor decides to rescind Branstad's executive order.

'This puts it in the code rather than just with a stroke of the pen they can rescind it,” he said.

'I think it's a good mechanism and that's why we're leading with this out of the gate,” Anderson added.

Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, a subcommittee member, said he viewed it as 'a good thing” having some cost associated with laws the Legislature passes and the rules administrative agencies draft to implement those provisions. 'I see no harm,” McCoy said, 'I will support it.”

Under the bill that goes to the full Senate Commerce Committee, the impact statement must determine whether a proposed rule would have a positive or negative impact on private sector jobs and employment opportunities.

As part of the procedure, a state agency is required to takes steps to minimize the adverse impact on jobs and the development of new employment opportunities before proposing a rule. An agency also is required to accept comments and information from stakeholders before final preparation of a jobs impact statement.

The administrative rules coordinator may waive the jobs impact statement requirement for rules filed using emergency rule making procedures or if unnecessary or impractical.

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