Today the latest Thrive Washington paper was released: Confronting Washington State’s Overlapping Regulatory Structures.

Regulatory reform efforts are being undertaken in numerous states and in the federal government.  As President Obama said in the Wall Street Journal, “Sometimes . . . rules have gotten out of balance, placing unreasonable burdens on business–burdens that have stifled innovation and have had a chilling effect on growth and jobs.”

As the Thrive paper documents, this jibes with the regulatory situation in Washington, where the rules often “overlap, conflict, or apply inconsistent standards.”  Businesses here face overlap in state and federal regulations, overlapping regulations in multiple state agencies, state and county regulatory overlap, and multiple state laws with overlapping regulations.

The paper includes these recommendations:

• The Department of Ecology (DOE) should adopt EPA regulatory standards.
• The legislature should streamline the permitting process by giving a single agency the authority over particular procedures.
• Regulators should issue permits that cover time periods commensurate with the life of the project.
• The legislature should exempt minor projects from the SEPA process and eliminate unnecessary compliance costs.
• DOE should cede all permitting authority to local jurisdictions or, conversely, retain it all.
• The Department of Commerce should create a permanent task force that monitors legislative and gubernatorial rule making and alerts both institutions when a potential conflict is emerging.

Plus, bonus recommendations:

• Strictly apply and enforce the Significant Legislative Rule provisions and require regulatory agencies to adopt only the “least burdensome rule” which implements expressed legislative intent.
• Allow permit applicants to write the first draft of the permit.
• Adopt an EFSEC-like model when permitting involves overlapping local and state governments.
• Require gubernatorial sign off of any significant rule adopted by regulatory agencies where the governor appoints the director.