Senate Bill 23 wins committee backing to increase administrative-regulation transparency

Chair Rocky Adams convened the Licensing & Occupations Committee and the panel voted to give Senate Bill 23 a favorable recommendation to the Senate floor.

Senator Steve West, sponsor of Senate Bill 23, told the committee the measure "does 2 main things." The bill would allow the committee (through its chair) to request that a cabinet agency present proposed administrative regulations and explain "what the regulations are and what they do," and it would require any cabinet representative who appears to have the authority to "defer or respond to a deficiency," West said.

The bill’s sponsor framed the measure as an increase in transparency. "It's just more transparency, more transparency sooner in the process," West said, adding that the administration…