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Committee advances bill to add legislative review and economic analysis for agency rules
Summary
Senate File 127, which would require additional legislative review and economic analysis of agency rules and reassign some Legislative Service Office responsibilities, passed the committee after cleanup amendments and public testimony.
The Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivisions Committee voted to pass Senate File 127 after considering cleanup amendments and hearing public and agency testimony about how the bill would interact with existing rulemaking and review processes.
Matt Obrecht, director of the Legislative Service Office (LSO), presented a cleanup amendment that, among other changes, shifts references from a named chief economist to the Legislative Service Office generally and asks the management audit committee to study how the new review duties would mesh with the existing legislative rule-review process. Obrecht told the committee that LSO has not staffed management audits in recent years and that the proposed changes would repurpose positions to budget/fiscal and legal work while suggesting the legislature should identify a “home committee” to receive economic analyses if the bill takes effect.
Joe Rubino of the Secretary of State’s office told the committee the engrossed version and the amendments appeared to remove the need for changes to the Secretary of State’s administrative rules system and that, with the current amendments, LSO would flag major agency rules publicly through LSO’s website rather than require systems changes at the Secretary of State’s office.
The committee heard public testimony both supporting and urging caution. Jeff Daugherty, appearing for FGA Action, supported the bill as a tool to reduce regulatory burden and cited examples such as cosmetology training hours and energy codes as areas where regulatory review could reduce costs. Kiel Wendland, special counsel and policy adviser to Governor Gordon, urged caution against layering a new process on top of an already lengthy delegated-rule process and emphasized that agencies are legally constrained to act within statutory authority.
LSO’s amendment was moved by Minority Leader Yin, seconded by Representative Weber, and carried. A subsequent amendment proposed by Senator ***** was moved by Representative Weber and seconded by Representative Lucas and also carried. The final roll call recorded one dissenting vote by Representative Yin; the bill passed the committee and was assigned volunteers to work the bill on the floor.
Ending: The committee closed public testimony and advanced the bill to the floor with adopted LSO and additional cleanup amendments.
