Today, the Red Tape Review Commission, chaired by New Jersey Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, released a report detailing progress the State has made reducing red tape and outlines further steps to make regulations less costly for business and non-profit groups. The report is based, in part, on input received at public hearings the Commission hosted at New Jersey City University, Thomas Edison State College, and Richard Stockton State College during 2011. The report highlights last year’s significant changes implemented by the Christie Administration to streamline government and cut red tape.
“For business, onerous and burdensome red tape is like death by a thousand paper cuts,” said Lt. Governor Guadagno. “It takes money from business and jobs from workers. In addition to summarizing what we’ve done, the Commission’s report outlines future steps to further reduce the regulatory burden on business and make it easier for them to grow and hire workers.”
Recent successes in reducing red tape include easing restrictions for non-profit groups with respect to mandatory independent audits, which is expected to save affected non-profits more than $10 million annually. Other changes include enabling professionals to apply for licenses online and permitting businesses to use the Internet to complete Urban Enterprise Zone filing requirements.
“As a licensed veterinarian, which is a regulated profession, I am grateful to the Administration, and to the Lt. Governor, in particular, for streamlining the regulated profession licensing process,” said Dr. Anthony DeCarlo, a Red Bank-based veterinarian, president of the New Jersey Veterinary Medical Association and a member of the Coalition of Regulated Professions. “Reducing the obstructive burden of red tape will help attract highly qualified health professionals of all specialties to live and work in New Jersey.”
The accomplishments of the legislative members of the Commission include significant changes to the Administrative Procedures Act that, among other things, allow rulemaking agencies to make substantial changes upon adoption of regulations without starting the rulemaking process anew, extend the sunset of regulations from five to seven years, and limit the ability of agencies to regulate through the use of regulatory guidance documents. These changes will streamline rulemaking, provide businesses with greater certainty and save time and money.
Based on public input, the report also outlines further work that must be done to cut red tape for business and non-profit groups, including improving the State’s inconsistent bidding and procurement process. State departments often have different bidding rules, including specification for binding, margins, and type-setting for hard copy bids.
“Lt. Governor Guadagno and the entire Red Tape Commission have shown continued, vibrant, and proactive support for helping non-profits reduce the needless red tape that they have confronted in the past,” said Christine Michelle Duffy, Esq., senior staff attorney for the Pro Bono Partnership.
The commission’s agenda for 2012 includes examining obsolete permits and outdated and confusing laws.
Among New Jersey’s antiquated permits is a requirement that bus operators submit a 20-page application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity. This certification, which dates back to when bus service was a public utility, provides no public benefit. Outdated laws include procedures for terminating private turnpike companies, which no longer exist in New Jersey. Another law requires hotels with ten or fewer rooms to have a guest register, but imposes no such requirement on hotels with more than ten rooms.
The goal of the Red Tape Review Commission is to streamline, not necessarily eliminate, regulations and to reduce unnecessary burdens and costs associated with regulatory compliance and is a permanent bipartisan commission created by Executive Order No. 41 in September 2011. The Commission is chaired by Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno and members include Senator Brian P. Stack (D-Hudson), Senator Steven V. Oroho (R-Sussex, Warren, and Morris), Assemblyman John J. Burzichelli (D-Salem, Cumberland, and Gloucester), Assemblyman Scott T. Rumana (R-Essex, Passaic, and Morris), Franklin Township Mayor Brian D. Levine, Edward B. Deutsch, managing partner of McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, LLP, John Galandak, president of Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey, and Tony Monteiro, business owner and former Elizabeth councilman.
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