Speedier review of regulations likely to become law
New measure comes amid fears about Colorado's competitiveness
Rules meant to protect the public from potentially harmful behavior by businesses will be reviewed more frequently under a bill expected to be signed into law soon.
The bill requires state agencies to review all of their regulations at least every five years, with the goal of removing or changing rules that aren’t working as intended. The measure passed last week with overwhelming bipartisan support and is likely to get Gov. Jared Polis’ signature.
Colorado already has laws that require agencies to review their rules, but the so-called “regulatory review” bill aimed at speeding up that process and giving it more teeth was a top priority for the business community, which claims that Colorado has excessive regulations that hurt the economy because of the high costs of compliance.
The Colorado Chamber of Commerce put out a report in February claiming Colorado is the sixth-most-regulated state in the country. In April, the pro-business group put out another report claiming Colorado’s excessive regulations were causing companies to flee the state.
But the assertion that regulations are killing jobs in Colorado is mostly backed by anecdotal evidence like complaints from business owners. In fact, two of the top states where Colorado companies relocated in recent years – California and Texas – actually have more regulations than Colorado does. And academic research has called into question whether regulations really kill jobs, suggesting instead that they may simply change the type of jobs available.
Need to Know
🏘️ Local and tribal governments could get easier access to hundreds of millions of dollars in state affordable housing funds. More than 90% of local governments were at risk of missing out on the funds because they had failed to increase affordable housing stock as much as current law requires. Lawmakers are advancing a bill to change the requirement from a generalized, percentage-based goal to an individual calculation based on housing and job growth in local areas. (Denver Post, April 7 newsletter, read the bill)
🚨 Multiple innocent Coloradans have gotten pulled over because license plate-reading cameras mistakenly tied their vehicles to criminal activity. The errors reportedly resulted from the similarity between the letter O and the number 0. (9News) A proposal to restrict law enforcement’s use of data from license plate cameras failed last week in the state legislature. (April 30 newsletter)
👷 Colorado’s U.S. Senators are challenging the Trump administration’s recent denial of federal disaster relief aid following major fires and floods last year. A new bill would allow the federal Congress to override such denials, which have become much more common under Trump, especially in states like Colorado that are governed by the president’s political opponents. (Sky-Hi News, April 16 newsletter, Senators’ press release, read the bill)
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Something Good
🍛 This weekend, I ate Bharta Makhni from one of my favorite restaurants in Lakewood: Little India. I usually prefer to eat at the restaurant, which has a classy yet casual atmosphere and excellent service, but I was feeling a bit under the weather, so I got it delivered instead and the food was just as good.