Rick Scott: Feds Should Take a Page From Florida’s Playbook on Cutting Regulations

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is touting a proposal on Capitol Hill to cut federal regulations

Last week, Scott unveiled the “Unnecessary Agency Regulations Reduction Act” which he showcased on Wednesday. The senator’s office insisted the proposal will “reduce burdensome government regulations and create more efficiency by modifying, consolidating, or repealing outdated, duplicative or unnecessary agency regulations.”

Weighing in on the bill, Scott pointed to his record in Tallahassee where he served eight years as governor as a model for his proposal.”

“Throughout my time as governor of Florida, we cut more than 5,200 burdensome regulations to get government out of the way so businesses could succeed,” Scott said. “Our focus on reducing taxes and cutting regulations meant more than 1.7 million new jobs were created in our state. The Unnecessary Regulations Reduction Act helps bring Florida’s success to Washington by creating more efficiency in the federal government. We have to do everything we can to protect taxpayer dollars and rein in wasteful spending, and eliminating unnecessary regulations is an easy way to do that.”

According to Scott’s office the bill “creates a process to eliminate multiple regulations originating from any and all agencies in a joint resolution” and “will require the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), on an annual basis, to submit a list of outdated, duplicative or burdensome agency regulations to modify, consolidate or repeal.” The list would then be brought into the White House’s Unified Agenda and then forwarded over to Congress.

Scott has reeled in the support of fellow U.S. Senate Republicans Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Steve Daines of Montana, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue of Georgia and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

The bill was sent to the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last week. So far, there is no companion measure over in the U.S. House.

Reach Kevin Derby at [email protected].