CHARLESTON W.Va. (WVDN) – Senator Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, and Delegate Tristan Leavitt, R-Kanawha, today announced the intention to introduce the West Virginia Rulemaking Economic Impact Needs Study (REINS) Act. The legislation will ensure agencies more fully consider the private-sector economic impact of rules they propose and provide lawmakers with critical information necessary to make economically sound decisions. The bill will also provide greater transparency to the public, including those considering investing or doing business in West Virginia.
“West Virginia already has one of the best rule-making review processes in the country, but the REINS Act will strengthen that process by providing more information to the Legislature,” said Senator Rucker, who serves as co-chair of the Legislative Rule-Making Review Committee. “Our goal is to expand freedom and opportunity for all West Virginians by getting the government out of their way.”
“Agency rules can impact the everyday lives of West Virginia’s residents and its economy, so agencies need to consider both the intended and unintended consequences of those rules. This bill supports Governor Morrisey’s plan to be competitive in an economic ‘backyard brawl’ with every state we touch, and also ensures West Virginians get the best government possible,” Delegate Leavitt said.
Key Elements of the West Virginia REINS Act:
- Ensures that agencies provide the Legislative Rule-Making Review Committee with a statement of the economic impact of the rule on the state and its residents.
- Requires an economic impact statement for any proposed rule that could have an adverse economic impact of more than $200,000 in a given year or $1 million over five years on: economic growth; private-sector job creation or employment; private-sector investment; business productivity, innovation, or competitiveness, including the ability of those doing business in the state to compete with those business in other states; or, regulatory or transactional costs. The economic impact statement will be a detailed written analysis which measures or estimates the potential costs to those doing business in this state of implementation of and compliance with a proposed legislative rule.
- Provides that the members of the Legislative Rule-Making Review Committee may also request an economic impact statement on any emergency rule.
- Provides that the Legislative Rule-Making Review Committee shall identify in its notice of recommendation to the Legislature whether the agency’s rulemaking proposal complied with all requirements, including the economic impact statement and, for fee adjustments, the requirement to provide the past five years of actual revenues and expenses of the fund.
Both proposed rules and the Legislative Rule-Making Review Committee recommendations are currently accessible to the public on the West Virginia Secretary of State’s website.
Since 2010, four states — Kansas, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Florida — have adopted legislative rulemaking-review models like West Virginia’s (established in 1976), along with economic thresholds like those in the West Virginia REINS Act.
