Covid-19 had a significant impact on the state’s economy. Throughout the course of the pandemic federal, state, and local governments waived over 800 different regulations that were a burden to businesses. No harms occurred to consumers, begging the question of why the regulations were ever in place to begin with.
As the state looked to recover from the pandemic, we felt it needed to do everything in its power to position businesses to get back on their feet and be successful moving forward. Regulatory reform can offer a promising avenue to explore, as regulations impose numerous costs to both businesses and consumers alike. The reality is there are likely thousands of more regulations across a variety of industries that are equally as burdensome to business, and which are discouraging (if not prohibiting) innovation that could help the economy recover more quickly.
Traditionally, states are reactive in nature to regulatory reform, responding during an economic downturn or emergency. Considering the rapid pace at which businesses have to adapt, coupled with the advancement of technology, the state needed to become more proactive and embrace dynamic regulatory reform, bringing the rules from decades ago to match the present world we live in.
We proposed the country’s first all-inclusive regulatory sandbox and published a policy brief about it. In short, a regulatory sandbox is a set of rules that allow businesses, usually within a specific industry, to test themselves in the market for a set period of time — generally two to three years — without being subject to any particular set of regulations. This is especially helpful to new businesses with innovative products, services, and/or business models that don’t neatly fit into a single industry. At the end of that set time period, the business and its results are evaluated to determine what, if any, regulations should apply to it.
Our proposed legislation passed unanimously, creating the country’s first all-inclusive regulatory sandbox. See our outreach page for work we’ve now done to help other states pass sandboxes.
