FROM STAFF REPORTS 

Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, on Jan. 31 announced state Rep. April Weaver, R – Brierfield, will serve as sponsor of the Red Tape Reduction Act, a measure designed to “unburden businesses of all sizes from needless and inefficient government bureaucracy and regulation.”

The bill requires any agency proposing a rule that might have an adverse effect on business to file a business economic impact statement with the Joint Committee on Administrative Regulation Review prior to its adoption if the agency receives a complaint that the regulation might negatively impact a business.

In addition to its reporting mandate, Weaver’s legislation would require all existing rules and regulations to be reviewed every five years in order to determine whether they should be amended, rescinded or remain unchanged.  Information related to proposed and existing regulation reviews would also be placed on agency websites in order to allow for public access.

“Several business owners in my district have complained that satisfying bureaucratic red tape requirements eats up man hours, produces numerous compliance costs and takes their attention away from their main objective – keeping the doors open and providing jobs,” Weaver wrote in a press release.  “State government should concentrate on giving business owners the tools they need to remain successful instead of finding ways to suffocate them under the weight of needless government oversight and mounds of paperwork.

“In short, my bill is the businessman’s best friend and the bureaucrat’s worst nightmare,” she wrote.

House bills included in the agenda will be among the first to be debated and voted upon during the 2013 regular legislative session, which is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, Feb. 5.