Senate Bill 2162

AN ACT TO REQUIRE A REGULATORY REDUCTION PROGRAM FOR CERTAIN PILOT AGENCIES; TO REQUIRE PILOT AGENCIES TO DEVELOP A BASELINE REGULATORY CATALOG AND REPORT CERTAIN DATA TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE; TO PROVIDE THAT NO PILOT AGENCY MAY ADOPT A NEW REGULATION UNLESS IT SIMULTANEOUSLY REMOVES TWO OR MORE OTHER EXISTING REGULATIONS; TO REQUIRE THE PEER COMMITTEE TO REVIEW THE REGULATORY REDUCTION EFFORTS OF THE PILOT AGENCIES AND REPORT TO THE LEGISLATURE; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. (1) As used in this act, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

(a) "Pilot agencies" means the Department of Health, Department of Transportation, Department of Education, Department of Finance and Administration, and Department of Information Technology.

(b) "Regulation or rule" means any statement of general application, having the force of law, affecting the rights or conduct of any person, adopted by an agency in accordance with the authority conferred on it by applicable basic laws. Such rules or regulations shall include administrative rules adopted in accordance with the Mississippi Administrative Procedures Act, Section 25-43-1.101 et seq., as well as any policy instrument, such as a guidance document, that includes a regulatory requirement.

(c) "Regulatory requirement" means any action or step that must be taken, or piece of information that must be provided, as stipulated by statute, regulation, policy or form, in order to access services, carry out business or pursue legislated privileges.

(d) "Guidance document" means an agency statement of general applicability, intended to have an effect on the behavior of regulated parties, that sets forth a policy on a statutory, regulatory, or technical issue, or an interpretation of a statute or regulation. Agency guidance documents include memoranda, manuals, policy statements, interpretations of law or rules, and other material of general applicability.

SECTION 2. (1) Every pilot agency shall undertake a review of every regulation, rule and requirement under its jurisdiction and prepare a base inventory, which shall include a numeric count, of the regulatory requirements in its existing rules.

(a) As part of this review, every pilot agency shall: (i) Accept written public comments for at least a 60-day period;

(ii) Hold at least two (2) public hearings to allow citizens and businesses to identify regulations that are ineffective, unnecessary or unduly burdensome;

(iii) Solicit and incorporate comments and advice from private citizens, stakeholders, regulated entities and other interested parties; and

(iv) Complete the review within one hundred twenty (120) days of the enactment of this section.

(b) Every agency shall designate a Rule Review Officer to oversee the review.

(c) For each existing regulation under its purview, every agency shall affirm in a report submitted to the Secretary of State, within one hundred eighty (180) days of the enactment of this section:

(i) The number of regulatory requirements contained in the regulation;

(ii) Whether the regulation is mandated by state or federal law or a court order, identifying the specific federal or state code section or court order that authorizes the regulation; or whether the regulation is issued at the discretion of the regulating agency;

(iii) Whether the regulation is essential to the health, safety, or welfare of Mississippi residents;

(iv) Whether the regulation is the least restrictive regulation necessary to protect consumers from present, significant and substantiated harms that threaten public health and safety;

(v) An estimate of the annual costs imposed by the regulation;

(vi) A process and schedule to measure the effectiveness of the regulation in the future, including identifying data that can be used in a retrospective cost-benefit analysis to assess the regulation's effectiveness;

(vii) Alternatives that have been considered as a substitute for the regulation; and

(viii) Whether the regulation is based on the most up-to-date and credible scientific, technical, economic and other relevant evidence.

(2) Based on the information collected in the reports required by subsection (1)(c) of this section, every pilot agency shall amend or rescind rules identified in its base inventory of regulatory requirements as necessary to reduce the total number of regulatory requirements under its purview by thirty percent (30%), according to the following schedule:

(a) A ten percent (10%) reduction not later than December 31, 2022;

(b) A twenty percent (20%) reduction not later than December 31, 2023;

(3) Before proposing a new rule for publication in the Mississippi Administrative Bulletin, each pilot agency must initiate the repeal of at least two (2) existing rules and provide a statement to the Secretary of State identifying the two (2) rules that have been repealed, along with an explanation as to what the repeal will accomplish in terms of increasing economic opportunities for the citizens of Mississippi and streamlining state government. The provisions of this subsection (3) shall remain in effect until a thirty percent (30%) reduction in regulatory requirements is achieved by the pilot agency, after which the repeal of at least one existing rule shall be required before the pilot agency proposes a new rule for publication in the Mississippi Administrative Bulletin.

SECTION 3. (1) The Secretary of State shall report annually to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Lieutenant Governor no later than February 1, 2023, February 1, 2024, and February 1, 2025, on the progress of the regulatory reduction pilot program established pursuant to this act.

(2) If, by February 1, 2025, the program has achieved less than a thirty percent (30%) total reduction in regulations and regulatory requirements across the pilot agencies, the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Finance Committee shall initiate a budgetary audit of each agency participating in the pilot program to assess what obstacles exist to meeting the thirty percent (30%) reduction goal. Further, the Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER) shall initiate and conduct a review of the regulatory reduction efforts of the pilot agencies and report to the Legislature any findings and recommendations regarding (a) whether the reduction goals are reasonable and achievable, and (b) policies, practices, and methods that may be adopted by agencies to successfully achieve the reduction goals.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2022.