TOPEKA, Kan. – A new law in Kansas will require legislative approval of rules and regulations written by state agencies that will cost more than $1 million within the first five years of implementation.
House Bill 2648, known as the REINS Act, provides checks and balances on expensive regulations through stronger legislative oversight, so the unnecessary costs aren’t passed on to businesses, local governments, or individuals. Under the law, state agencies will be required to evaluate if the proposed rule or regulation will cost $1 million total in the first five years. If the economic impact statement indicates a cost over that threshold, state agencies will have the opportunity to revise the proposed rule or regulation to reduce the cost, otherwise the price tag will have to be voted on by the legislature.
“We worked together with a lot of great stakeholders to get this bill passed and look forward to seeing the positive effects of it on business and making our state more competitive.” said William Wilk, Senior Director of Government Affairs of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce.
Wilk said the newly formed law will free Kansas businesses from pricey surprises.
“Businesses want the government to get out of the way and let them do their work, and if the government is proposing new regulations, this is just a double check to make sure that those regulations don’t create an unnecessary burden on businesses,” Wilk said.
Governor Laura Kelly vetoed the bill, however, the bill is now law after the Kansas House and Kansas Senate approved motions to override the veto, with a vote of 87-38 in the House and 27-12 in the Senate.
“We had pretty strong votes. We sent it to the governor’s desk, and we figured it would be vetoed. So it just took some work of some additional legislators to make sure that we could secure the veto override,” Wilk said.
During committee hearings, eight organizations, including Americans for Prosperity-Kansas, the Kansas Cooperative Council, the Kansas Chamber, the Kansas Grain and Feed Association, the Opportunity Solutions Project, the State of Kansas Office of the Attorney General, United WE, and the Kansas Soybean Association, provided supportive testimony.
Wendy Doyle, President and CEO of United Women Empowerment, said the bill will provide a more straightforward system for business owners in Kansas and will create a culture for empowerment.
Scott Gigstad, president of the Kansas Soybean Association, also supported the bill, stating in his testimony the policy will help soybean farmers in Kansas by reducing the costs of doing business since farmers already face challenges increasing profitability.
Other states such as Florida and Wisconsin have passed similar laws. Wisconsin’s Act 57 came into effect in 2017. The law, also known as the Wisconsin Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act, “directs an agency to determine whether a proposed rule has $10 million or more in implementation and compliance costs over a two-year period,” according to the Economic Impact Analysis in the 2017 Wisconsin Legislative Council Act Memo.
Similar to Kansas’s new law, Florida’s bill that went into effect in November of 2010 also had a veto override by then-Governor Charlie Crist. Florida’s bill requires the state legislature to ratify costs over $1,000,000 over five years.
