The Pilot had a little blurb in it this morning about a new Regulatory reform task force being formed by Attorney General Bob McDonnell. I got a call from someone today about the story, who was concerned about the characterization (emphasis mine):
McDonnell, a Republican, said the group will conduct a comprehensive review of Virginia regulations with an eye for eliminating rules that are outdated, unnecessarily costly or nonsensical.
I figured it was the Pilot just being the Pilot but this person had also heard something on NPR this morning about it. Strange, I thought, since I hadn’t seen anything on the blogs about it. So first I hunted up the press release.
Speaking about the launch of the Task Force, McDonnell noted, “Today is the start of a serious, long-term effort to reduce unnecessary and obsolete regulations in Virginia, and to limit the regulatory burden on Virginia businesses and citizens. This is an issue that will not be completed overnight. It is critically important for our Commonwealth that we overhaul and streamline regulations and allow our free-enterprise system to function effectively.”
Hm. I wonder what “unnecessary” regulations the task force could be focusing on?
Mission of Attorney General Bob McDonnell’s Government
and Regulatory Reform Task Force
- To review Virginia’s regulatory framework to find those regulations that can be improved, updated or amended in order to (1) better involve the people in their government, (2) ensure that regulations do not unnecessarily hinder free enterprise and (3) ensure that regulations do not place undue costs on Virginia taxpayers.
- Furthermore, the Task Force will consider and outline improvements to the process for implementing proposed new regulations and review of current regulations to allow for more thorough consideration and more public involvement in these important decisions.
Evaluating Regulations
- What is the purpose of the regulation?
- Does the regulation exceed its statutory authority?
- Does the regulation have a bona fide purpose that makes sense in the 21st Century?
- Does the regulation contribute to the health, safety and/or welfare of the Commonwealth?
- Are the benefits to the overall good of the people outweighed by the cost of the regulation to the public and the Commonwealth?
- Can the regulation be monitored and enforced in a manner that retains the benefit to the Commonwealth with a lower burden (e.g.-electronic reporting methods)?
- Does the regulation conflict with another regulation on the books?
Still not much to go on. Interestingly enough, the only article I could find in the Virginia blogshpere on this new task force was over at Bacon’s Rebellion. (Thanks to Blognetnews.com for the nifty blog seach 🙂 ) Wonder why there is so little coverage of this? Comments over there seem to indicate this may be just politics.
In any event, I’ll be monitoring the task force and urge others to do so as well.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
I was curious to see whether this was a “bipartisan” task force, based on comments over at Bacon’s Rebellion that this was not much more than a political stunt.
I did a quick check of VPAP and found that of the 1st 10 names (they are listed alphabetically), 2 have no record of donation to any party, 1 has donated to a democrat, and 7 have donated to republicans.
Of course, McDonnell has not made any specific claim that this is a bipartisan task force. But if it’s intent is to TRULY represent the citizens and business community as portrayed in the press release then it seems odd that 70% are clearly from one political party. Then again, I’m not taking into account the myriad of other possibilities that could have caused this anamoly…. oh, such as maybe most democrats have last names that start with N-Z… 😉
You could be right 🙂 But take a look through the entire list. There are some D’s there, including Delegates Benny Lambert and Mark Sickles and Senator Phil Puckett.