| At The Albany Project, we've discussed a variety of progressive ways to improve state government. Our general belief here is that progressives must stand for streamlined, efficient state bureaucracy. We don't want to shrink government so it can be drowned in a bathtub; we want to make sure that government works for the people and in order to work, it has to make sense. In the era of Cuomo, we should ask ourselves what opportunities we have to make state government work better.
One unique opportunity I've recently discovered is the Administrative Regulations Review Commission, or ARRC. I first heard about ARRC when David Carlucci was named as the Senate co-chair of the commission. I had never heard about this commission until that day and I started researching what the heck it was. ARRC came up again this past week when Assemblyman Chuck Lavine (a good, reform-oriented Democrat from Nassau County for those who haven't heard of him) was appointed co-chair from the Assembly.
So what the heck is ARRC and why am I optimistic about it? Follow me over the fold to find out.
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The best way to answer the question is to quote directly from the law, specifically Legislative Law Article 5-B Section 87:
The commission shall exercise continuous oversight of the process of rule making and examine rules, as defined in subdivision two of section one hundred two of the state administrative procedure act, adopted or proposed by each agency with respect to (i) statutory authority, (ii) compliance with legislative intent, (iii) impact on the economy and on the government operations of the state and its local governments, and (iv) impact on affected parties; and, in furtherance of such duties, may examine other issues it deems appropriate.
ARRC possesses oversight authority over all of New York's executive agencies and reviews regulations promulgated by those agencies. That review focuses on keeping the agencies in line with the law, with the will of the democratically-elected legislature, and with the effect of those regulations on New Yorkers.
When you go to the ARRC page on the New York website, you get the sense that the Commission hasn't done much the past few years. In fact John Sampson was the Commission co-chair for the Senate during the brief Democratic majority. One tends to think that Senator Sampson was a wee bit busy to do much with the Commission other than collect its lulu.
But with strong, reform-minded individuals like Carlucci and Lavine, I am extremely optimistic about what the Commission can do. In fact Assemblyman Lavine laid out this exact point in an op-ed he's been circulating around the state.
Many of these [regulatory reforms] have been developed by the Administrative Regulations Review Commission (ARRC), a legislative panel to which I was just appointed as Assembly Chair. Other examples of ARRC's legislative successes include requiring agencies to show some "regulatory flexibility" to resource-starved small businesses and local governments, having agencies publish an early warning of future rulemakings, and reviewing adopted rules every five years to weed out those that are stale or counterproductive.
It is appropriate to criticize mandates and regulations that create more burdens than benefits, but oil rig explosions, mine collapses and financial system meltdowns remind us that we still need sensible and effective regulations. My job as new Assembly ARRC Chair, along with my Senate counterpart, Senate ARRC Chair David Carlucci, is the hard work of trying to ensure that new regulations are well-designed and old outmoded ones are eliminated, and that the burdens on local governments and businesses are no greater than what is necessary to protect the public. We will also be looking at legislation to sharpen the tools we have and add any new ones we need to make this happen.
Another benefit of ARRC is to make state regulations friendlier. Assemblyman Lavine mentions both small businesses and the environment in this press release I received:
One of Assemblyman Lavine's many priorities on the commission will be to help small businesses cut through the red tape-and hopefully eliminate some of it. He will also seek to work with state agencies, departments and authorities to promote environmentally friendly policies and to keep New Yorkers from unnecessary regulation that needs no legislative approval.
Here's what it comes down to folks; in an era of austerity, we need to make sure government works so we can continue advocating for government. Conservatives have tried their hardest to turn government into a self-fufilling prophecy of failure. We as progressives need to make sure government is efficient and well-run in order to demonstrate to the country that government is the positive force in people's lives we know it can be. When opportunities to promote that positive vision of government are available, we have to grab them. So let's see what Senator Carlucci and Assemblyman Lavine can do with this unique opportunity. |
