Idaho's zero-based regulation model
Date postedJuly 24, 2024
Issue brief from the Manhattan Institute: "Idaho’s zero-based regulation program combines four established elements of regulatory reform: sunset provisions, regulatory budgets, regulatory impact analyses, and independent reviews. When consistently applied, these four elements flip the script on regulations. No longer do agencies have to expend significant effort to eliminate a regulation; rather, regulations are eliminated by default, and keeping a regulation requires agencies to affirmatively justify its costs relative to its benefits. . . .
When these measures are combined and consistently enforced, the result is that typical regulatory inertia is inverted in two ways:
- Elimination of regulations is the default. State agencies must work to justify the regulations that they intend to keep.
- Less burdensome regulation is the default. The burden of proof is on those agencies attempting to justify a regulation more stringent than other jurisdictions have adopted."