Regulattion Upon Regulation Is Chaos : Washington State Looks Deeper

Everyone has heard about the saying, 'death by a thousand cuts' and how this means dying slowly and probably painfully. Well, regulation is much the same thing in that believing government must regulate everything that is proposed in the state no matter what the situation or operation.

Government is god and therefore beneilvent - multiple agencies with multiple divisions all issuing regulations for control. Washington state is taking a longer look at how all of the layered agencies and the ability to regulate works or not. Mostly they found, not.

A beneilvent government must not allow individuals to take responsibility for proper operations of any public business or function as they are not qualified to understand the bigger picture. That is, the individual cannot be allow to take any power to control outcomes from the central government bureaucracy.

Shortcomings and Solutions in Washington State Regulatory Agency Cooperation
Source:  "Regulatory Reform: Enhancing Regulatory Agency Reform," Washington State Auditor's Office, July 2015.

October 2, 2015

According to the Washington State Auditor's Office, regulatory agencies within the state lack formal and consistent systems of inter-agency cooperation. The state auditor also noted the absence of a lead agency and a long-term approach to recognizing and prioritizing opportunities for regulatory agencies to work together in a focused and systematic manner. Consequently, regulatory decisions are more expensive and time-consuming than they could be.

To reach this conclusion, the state auditor examined well-publicized coordination efforts directed by statute or executive order, as well as three theoretical business projects that necessitated the approval of eleven regulatory agencies.  In each theoretical case, the state auditor compared how agencies collaborated with other local and state agencies according to four criteria:

• The degree that multi-agency requirements are communicated.
• The type of coordination framework that is or is not in place.
• How regulatory activities are coordinated.
• How coordination is measured.

While several regulatory agencies were found lacking, the state auditor noted that the Transportation Permit Efficiency and Accountability Committee, the Shellfish Interagency Permitting Team and the Seattle Restaurant Success Initiative demonstrated practices that other agencies should emulate. For example, they possessed written coordination policies and protocols, as well as structured communication channels between agencies.

Finally, the state auditor proposed solutions for the state legislature to implement. One solution includes creating long-term strategies for detecting and prioritizing multi-agency regulatory processes that can be streamlined through coordination according to criteria such as importance to the state and potential savings for businesses and agencies.

Another involves creating a timetable for prioritizing regulatory processes to be streamlined through coordination. The state auditor also advises that annual reports be submitted to the governor and legislature detailing the progress of prioritized regulatory procedures to be streamlined via coordination, along with performance measures for each process.