Praiseworthy Bill Reins In Regulators

Who knows best: Government inspectors and regulation writers? Or the business people and communities they try to regulate?

Voters answered that question last fall. They’re sick of the paperwork, the red tape, the attorney fees and the meddlesome inspectors who enforce arbitrary rules, written in distant places, which don’t fit the realities of a local workplace.

Washington’s Legislature heeded the voters’ message this spring when it passed HB1010, a bill to rein in regulation writers. The measure would restore the Legislature to its constitutional role as the maker of laws, a role increasingly taken over by a shadow legislature of unelected rules writers from the executive branch of government.

Will Gov. Mike Lowry sign the bill?

He should.

The legislation does not repeal existing rules. Rather, it aims to make future regulations more reasonable. For example, it requires:

A new climate. Agencies must help businesses understand and comply with state rules, rather than ambushing the well-intentioned with hostile, picayunish inspections and punitive fines. Voluntary compliance would avoid costly litigation.

Sensitivity. In drafting regulations, agencies must evaluate alternatives, determine whether the benefits outweigh the costs and choose the method least burdensome for those being regulated.

Authorization. Agencies must draft rules only when specifically empowered to do so by the Legislature. Rules based vaguely on an agency’s general mission no longer would be allowed. This key provision would slam the door on rogue agencies that have usurped the Legislature’s role.

Balanced power. If a rule is challenged and a legislative review committee finds that it violates the Legislature’s intent, the burden of proving the rule valid must rest on the agency that wrote it. Until now, the burden has been placed on citizens to prove a rule excessive. In a democracy, the burden of proof should favor citizens, not the state.

True, the course correction which voters have demanded might go too far - especially if a veto of this bill were to provoke more radical remedies. There’s a place for rules and regulators. Legislators can set policy, but they lack the time and expertise required to work out the details of managing forests, protecting consumers from insurance scams, balancing fish and wildlife populations and establishing standards for industrial safety.

But in Washington, the rules writers had gotten so carried away that the public revolted. The governor would be wise to let the public’s representatives bring the public’s government into line.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Webster/For the editorial board