WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Angus King (I-ME) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) today introduced the Regulatory Improvement Act of 2013, a bill that would create a Regulatory Improvement Commission to review outdated regulations with the goal of modifying, consolidating, or repealing regulations in order to reduce compliance costs, encourage growth and innovation, and improve competitiveness.

“Business owners and entrepreneurs in Maine regularly tell me that the single greatest obstacle to their economic growth continues to be overly-burdensome regulations, but as thousands of more rules are promulgated every year, Congress isn’t taking any serious steps to address the mountain of regulations that already exist,” Senator King said. “Our legislation would move that process forward by establishing an independent commission to identify and review outdated rules so that Congress can begin to deliver regulatory relief to our nation’s job creators.”

“Missourians and job creators nationwide are burdened with too many confusing, inefficient, and duplicative government regulations that continue to stifle economic growth,” Senator Blunt said. “Americans need more economic certainty, and this bill is a step in the right direction to streamline regulatory burdens and help job creators, entrepreneurs, and innovators grow and hire more people.”

The Regulatory Improvement Act of 2013 employs a balanced approach to evaluating existing regulations – one that involves identifying regulations that are not essential to broad priorities like the environment, public health, and safety, but instead are outdated, duplicative, or inefficient. The goal of the Commission is to complement existing processes and to create a mechanism that acts expeditiously and incorporates wide stakeholder input.

Members of the bipartisan Commission will be appointed by Congressional leadership and the President, and the Commission will be tasked with first identifying a single sector or area of regulations for consideration. Upon an extensive review process, involving broad input from the general public and stakeholders, the Commission will submit to Congress a report containing regulations in need or streamlining, consolidation, or repeal.

Both Houses of Congress will then consider the Commission’s report under expedited legislative procedures, which allow relevant Congressional Committees to review the Commission’s report but not amend the recommendations. The bill will then be placed on the calendar of each house for a straight up-or-down vote.

For additional information on the bill, click here.

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