Guest Opinion: House Republicans took a stand for smaller government

All Idahoans will be enjoying a much less burdensome state government in a few weeks, and it all started with those of us in the Idaho House Republican Caucus taking a stand. We held true to our conservative principles, in the face of pressure, to force the review and elimination of thousands of needless or harmful rules and regulations.

The deep-cleaning of state regulations started when the House spearheaded an effort to create a better rule-making process. We are one of the few states that allow legislators to review and potentially reject rules from the governor in the form of an administrative rules bill. In the past it has been a rubber-stamp process, in part due to an unbalanced process.

Administrative rules carry the full weight of law, but only one legislative committee needs to approve a non-fee increase rule for it to take effect and they’re only rejected if both chambers agree. This is opposite of the process to create law that requires the approval of both chambers. That’s not right and takes away lawmaking powers from the leaders you directly elect. House Majority Leader Moyle sponsored a bill that would’ve required both chambers of the Legislature to approve any new rules to make it consistent with the lawmaking process. It easily passed the House, but did not get a hearing in the Senate, and died. We, however, would not give up.

Just days before a potential sine die, Rep. Moyle introduced an amendment to the administrative rules bill. The amendment would have again required a fair process where administrative rules need to be approved by both the House and the Senate committees. As amended, the administrative rules bill then died in the Senate. What happened next was the key moment in creating the opportunity for a more streamlined government.

The House GOP could’ve just agreed to go back to doing business as usual, and the rules and regulations would’ve continued to pile up. But instead, we saw an opportunity to review and potentially cut tens of thousands of restrictions. We stood firm in our conservative values of limited government regulation and let the rules bill die. This opened the door to a full review of the state’s rules. Instead of quick rubber stamps of approval, we’ve seen full reviews of how our state agencies do the work of the people, and how they can do it better.

Over the past month, we’ve seen the streamlining, scaling back or elimination of roughly one-third of this state’s rules and regulations, and it all started with a commitment to conservatism. Free enterprise and individual initiative are what has brought this state the economic growth and prosperity we’re enjoying today, not oppressive government. This process allowed Idaho to remove the shackles of demanding governance, and put more control where it belongs, in the hands of you, the people of Idaho.