Governor Kim Reynolds is prioritizing making Iowa’s economy more competitive. This year the Governor is focusing on reducing the regulatory burden in Iowa. In January, Governor Reynolds issued an executive order to begin to reform regulations in Iowa. In her Condition of the State address she said that the intent of the executive order is to “begin the process of lifting this dead weight from our economy over the next four years.” In advancing regulatory reform Iowa policymakers should consider Ohio’s successful efforts to eliminate burdensome regulations. Ohio serves as the gold standard for state regulatory reform.
The Mercatus Center at George Mason University provides a sense of how heavy the regulatory burden is, examining states’ regulatory regimes and finding that Iowa has the most regulations in the Plains Region. Governor Reynolds explains, “Over time, Iowa’s Administrative Code has ballooned to more than 20,000 pages and 190,000 restrictive terms. Many of these rules are unnecessary. Some are actually counterproductive, short-circuiting legitimate economic activity and making our state less competitive.”
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