SC Rep. Atwater: Let’s kill dumb regulations

South Carolinians love to laugh at ridiculous regulations, ones that have been in place for decades, but are painfully inefficient or out-of-date. That is, until they hit us. Consider, for example, that our dairy farmers must comply with rules of two different regulatory boards, which at times conflict with each other, or that birthing centers have to have wider-than-average doorways, which provide no health or safety benefits for patients. The list goes on.

Red tape in South Carolina is no laughing matter. Our current system allows regulations, once on the books, to remain active indefinitely. That creates situations where citizen freedoms are restricted, businesses are burdened and our economic well-being is strained. Bottom line: Meaningless regulations are a large, hidden tax we cannot afford.

The number of regulations, and the enforcement of them, has become an immense burden to the people of our state. South Carolina simply can’t afford an inefficient and outdated regulatory system.

This is why I’ve introduced H. 3006, which says that any state regulation passed from now on would automatically expire or “sunset” after five years. Period. This would help ensure we only keep regulations on the books that are necessary and truly working for the people of South Carolina.

The bill already has passed the House and is sitting in the Senate.

A number of other states have undertaken similar reforms in recent years. If we are to create the opportunities we’d want — jobs, a thriving business environment and economic benefit for all our citizens — South Carolina needs to do the same.

This bill can help small businesses, and everyone else, succeed. Over-regulation forces small-business owners to be more concerned with compliance than with building their businesses and creating the jobs our state needs. Getting rid of excess regulations lets them concentrate on growing the business.

It also will conserve taxpayer dollars. By requiring all regulations to expire after five years, we allow real review to take place. Our legislators can provide focused attention on regulations that are either new or worth reconsidering, without having to weed through many that simply need to be eliminated.

The bill also gives small business and individual citizens more voice in the process. We can systematically sweep away obsolete or unnecessary rules, thereby cleaning up our system for everyone. This way, we can tighten and focus on the regulations that work, and make them easier to follow and enforce — without all the clutter.

What we’re looking at here is an opportunity to simplify things by using taxpayer dollars to fund only the review of those regulations that are necessary in today’s world — not those that should just ride off into the sunset.

Unfortunately, this bill doesn’t eliminate many archaic regulations that need to be eliminated. But I believe that it can revolutionize our system by starting us on the path to better efficiency and more voices in the process.

We literally can change the whole mess, and this regulatory reform bill is a crucial first step. It’s time we give the people of South Carolina a clear voice in reforming the system.

This story was originally published April 19, 2015 at 5:00 PM with the headline "SC Rep. Atwater: Let’s kill dumb regulations."