Chamber sees regulatory change as way to enhance Utah business

The Salt Lake Chamber is calling for regulation reform to enhance the state’s business climate, including a “robust” cost-benefit analysis of major rules implemented by state administrative agencies.

The Salt Lake Chamber is calling for regulation reform to enhance the state’s business climate, including a “robust” cost-benefit analysis of major rules implemented by state administrative agencies.

The chamber issued its recommendations in a 16-page report titled “The Cost of Doing Business: Improving Utah’s Regulatory System.” The report is available at www.slchamber.com/costofdoingbusiness.

“Regulation reform is among the easiest and simplest ways policymakers can influence economic growth,” said Lane Beattie, chamber president and chief executive officer. “To the state’s credit, Utah continues to gain national praise, including Forbes’ ‘Best State for Business’ over six of the past seven years. These accolades come because of a commitment to continuously improve — even in areas where we excel.”

Beattie said the chamber looks forward to working with Gov. Gary Herbert and the Legislature “to keep Utah’s regulatory climate among the best in the nation.”

“The most important of these reforms seeks to improve the process of analyzing and mitigating impacts of administrative rules on Utah’s business,” Beattie said in the report’s introduction. “Our focus is both the executive branch where rules are promulgated and the legislative branch where rulemaking authority is authorized. Both branches of government must consider the impact of their decisions on the Utah economy.”

The report calls for better evaluation of the costs of Utah’s rules to individuals, businesses and the state’s economy; reforms that will stop unnecessary regulations; improvement in transparency and oversight of Utah’s rules; and achieving a national model through considering a more robust analysis on the costs and benefits of rules.

The report notes that in Utah, administrative rules are state regulations and that several other states have regulatory cost-benefit analysis — essentially determining the impact of every rule on small businesses. It says Utah’s regulatory structure “is becoming outdated as 21 states have adopted more robust analyses of their regulations.”

“Utah’s rules attempt to measure the fiscal impacts of administrative rules,” the report states. “However, these efforts are less robust than that of many of our peer states. Top-tier states utilize a robust cost-benefit analysis of major rules. This analysis is an analytical procedure to estimate the net economic value of a given policy or project.”

The chamber said state business leaders have become increasingly concerned that Utah’s “exemplary” business climate may deteriorate because of complacency caused by favorable national rankings. “A decline in specific metrics of Utah’s business climate shows these concerns are warranted, in large part to other states surpassing our efforts,” the report says.

Among previous regulatory reform efforts, the most recent came in 2011, when Herbert’s business regulation review found that 48 percent of Utah’s rules substantially affect businesses. More than 300 rules were modified or eliminated. In 2015, less than 3 percent of rules had a robust analysis about their potential cost to business, the chamber report states.

“Without better analysis, there is no method for understanding what Utah’s rules cost our economy,” it says.

The Salt Lake Chamber is the state’s largest business association, with more than 8,000 businesses employing 500,00 people.