Senate committee advances package to increase legislative review of agency rules

The Senate Administrative Rules Committee advanced a group of bills intended to increase legislative control over state administrative rules and to require more economic review of agency rulemaking.

Senator Bergstrom, the bill author, told the committee that Senate Bill 318 would create the Legislative Economic Analysis Unit (LEAU) within LOFT to review major agency rules and provide reports to the Legislature. “For a major rule, that means a rule that's going to have a million dollar impact on somebody,” Bergstrom said, and he said the LEAU would evaluate agency-submitted research and cost information.

During questioning, members pressed details on staffing and fiscal impact. Senator Brooks asked whether the unit would include five staff; Bergstrom said staffing and most administrative costs would be addressed in the companion appropriations bill (SB 5) and he estimated initial projections of $456,000 for five employees under SB 5, with about three-fifths of that if only three employees were needed. Bergstrom and others also said SB 318 itself carries no immediate fiscal impact and that the budget implications would be handled through SB 5.

The committee also advanced Senate Bill 896, which would impose a five-year staggered sunset schedule so that 20% of agency rules expire each year, and require agencies to provide a cost-benefit analysis and justification to renew rules. Bergstrom described the measure as a way to ensure rules are reviewed on a regular schedule and said larger agencies would be phased in later to give staff time to complete reviews.

Senate Bill 995, presented later in the hearing, would bar any administrative rule that has not been approved by the Legislature from becoming law. Bergstrom argued the change would restore legislative oversight over agency rules; the committee passed SB 995 on a unanimous recorded vote (9-0 in committee).

Senate Bill 1024 would codify an executive order adopted in 2019 requiring agencies to remove two existing regulatory restrictions for every new restriction they adopt; Bergstrom said the measure requires agencies to demonstrate compliance and would reject proposed rules if agencies cannot show how they satisfied the two-for-one requirement. Bergstrom cited other states’ experience and a previous federal executive order (13771) as precedent during questioning.

Committee action and votes recorded in the transcript: SB 318 received a committee roll-call of 7 ayes and 2 nays and was declared passed by the committee; SB 896 (as amended) received 7 ayes and 2 nays and was declared passed; SB 995 passed on a recorded committee vote of 9 ayes, 0 nays; SB 1024 passed on a recorded committee vote of 9 ayes, 0 nays.

Committee members asked follow-up questions about definitions (for example, whether “major rule” and “anticompetitive effects” require statutory definitions), the fiscal impact of staffing LEAU, and how agencies should phase reviews of large rule sets. Bergstrom said the major‑rule standard in the bill would capture rules with a $1,000,000 impact on governments, businesses or individuals and that the LEAU would review those proposals and report to the Legislature.

Outcome and next steps: The committee advanced the package and will address appropriations and staffing details in the companion bill SB 5. The transcript records recorded committee votes for each bill as noted above; full-floor consideration and fiscal committee action remain to follow.