(The Center Square) – Wisconsin is a leader in pushing for legislative authority over the authority of unelected bureaucrats, according to the Institute for Reforming Government’s Wisconsin Administrative Reform Toolbox.
The group highlighted 15 years worth of legislation pushing the state in the direction of legislative authority as many states and governmental entities have seen power shift in the other direction.
IRG is hoping to have explained to other states outside of Wisconsin how to simplify legislative authority, from the 2011 Act 21, which put in requirements before agencies could regulate to the 2017 REINS act requiring legislative approval for rules costing more than $10 million to this year’s Red Tape Reset bills, which would need the approval of Gov. Tony Evers before becoming law.
“Wisconsin has an amazing story to tell,” IRG General Counsel and Director of the Center for Investigative Oversight Jake Curtis told The Center Square. “We’ve laid that out for years, about how Wisconsin really has this amazing model for administrative reforms and, the reality is that there’s.a lot of states, even red states or very red states, that don’t have good administrative processes in place.”
The current bills include one addressing the 165,000 restrictions in state law with a sunsetting bill requiring all chapters of administrative code be reviewed, updated or allowed to expire every seven years.
The other is a bill requiring that if a new rule adds costs for businesses, families or local governments, those costs must be offset.
“Those are reforms that IRG has been calling for along with others for years,” Curtis said, pointing to a REINS Act report released last year.
Pitfalls in that process, however, can occur.
The report pointed to a ruling last year from the Wisconsin Supreme Court stating that legislators cannot indefinitely block rules, leading to an agency free-for-all on rulemaking that has led to more proposed legislation and a constitutional amendment.
“States seeking to replicate this tool should consider working closely with legal counsel to structure the committee’s power as a temporary suspension rather than a permanent veto, or consider pursuing a state constitutional amendment, to avoid a similar legal challenge,” the toolbox explains.
