Contact: Tom Evenson, (608) 266-2839
MADISON – Governor Scott Walker released his Weekly Radio Address today titled “Making Wisconsin Government More Accountable.”

Hi, Scott Walker here.

One of our top priorities here in Wisconsin is making sure the government services we provide our citizens are effective, efficient, and accountable. At the end of the day, we want Wisconsin government to operate at good-value for the hard-working taxpayers of our state.

We’ve made huge strides since taking office, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. In fact, according to a recent report, Wisconsin currently has 159,253 restrictions on the book. That’s 12 million words worth of rules that would take someone reading full-time 17 whole weeks just to get through!

That’s why earlier this week, I signed Senate Bill 15, also known as the Wisconsin REINS Act, into law.

Modeled after the federal REINS Act, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 2015 but has yet to pass in the United States Senate, this bill makes three fundamental changes to our administrative rule-making process.

First, it puts in place a $10 million cap on new rules and regulations passed by a state agency. That means that any agency that wishes to pass a rule that will cost an industry or business more than $10 million must get approval from the Legislature before the new rule moves forward.

It creates an option for the legislature’s Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules to request a public hearing early in the rule-making process to give Wisconsin citizens and industry representatives the chance to voice their thoughts and opinions.

The bill also gives the committee the ability to request an independent economic analysis for a second opinion on what the cost of compliance for a new rule will be for Wisconsin’s business community.

The Wisconsin REINS Act takes away power from unelected bureaucrats and makes sure that state agencies are truly held accountable to the taxpayers. More importantly, it allows our taxpayers the opportunity to weigh-in early in the rule-making process.

We remain committed to making state government more accountable to our citizens, and with the REINS Act, it’s just one of the ways we’re continuing to move Wisconsin forward.

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