CALIFORNIA: Democrats introduce bill targeting unnecessary regulations

SacBee: Capitol Alert ^ | 2/16/11 | Torey Van Oot

[SmithL]

What could compel a trio of Senate Democrats as well as environmental and business leaders to come together and start combing through 28,000 pages of state regulations?

"We want to talk about Section one-oh-one-oh-hundred-point-one here today," Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said as he scanned one of dozens of binders stacked next to a podium at a morning press conference.

Really?

"No, not really," he said, laughing.

The actual occasion? Legislation the sponsors say will create a better business environment by shedding unnecessary regulations from the books.

Senate Bill 366, co-authored by Democratic Sens. Ron Calderon and Fran Pavley , would give state agencies 180 days to review regulations and identify "duplicative, overlapping, inconsistent, or out of date," provisions that should be eliminated. The bill would also direct the the state agency heads to join forces for one year to streamline the business permitting process.

"If we can eliminate the duplication, if we can make government more user friendly, helping people and businesses comply with the law instead of making it more difficult to comply with the law, we can make a real difference in growing jobs here in California,"

[SmithL]

Uh-huh, sure.

[freekitty]

My first thought was the same.

[Carry_Okie]

Do they want a list?

[Svartalfiar]

I wonder what they’ve been smoking to give them this idea?

[BobL]

Don’t these people know that without regulations, society would COLLAPSE.

...and actually it would. We’ve had regulations since the days of tribal chiefs - we must have them. Having regulations not only helps society, they are necessary for the existence of society.

But here’s the Democrat take on it: If regulations are needed for a society to exist, more regulations means that a society can only be happier and better. LOL.