New Jersey Herald: Gottheimer bill would create panel to ease business regulations

U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-5th Dist., announced a recently introduced bill that would create a bipartisan committee to seek to roll back burdensome business regulations and cut out-of-date statutes that hamper economic growth.

Gottheimer is the co-lead sponsor of the Regulatory Improvement Act of 2017, along with U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. Six other Congress members — three Democrats and three Republicans — are co-sponsors as well. The bill was introduced in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

If passed, the bill would create an independent, bipartisan commission called the Regulatory Improvement Commission to review rules that are outdated, duplicative or in conflict with one another and present recommendations to Congress for an up-or-down vote. The commission would be made up of representatives from business and civic organizations and would be appointed by the president and congressional leaders of both parties.

After a tour of the Mars Chocolate North America facility in Hackettstown on Wednesday afternoon, Gottheimer held a conference call with members of the media to outline specifics of the legislation.

“At Mars, Inc. today, I saw the incredible scale of the work this great New Jersey company does right here in Hackettstown, but I also heard about their concerns with the accumulation of regulations they have to deal with from the federal government,” Gottheimer said. “Out-of-date and burdensome regulations are piling up and causing major problems to employers of all sizes. We need to purge the books of these dinosaur regulations that are killing jobs and consolidate others, while still making sure that we keep in place needed safeguards like ones that make sure our kids have clean drinking water. That’s exactly what the bipartisan bill I introduced yesterday, the Regulatory Improvement Act, will do.”

Gottheimer said he applauds the steps taken by President Donald Trump’s administration in regard to a recent executive order that required two federal regulations be cut for every new one adopted, but he believes this new legislation accomplishes more. It was announced on Wednesday that the president’s order is being challenged in the courts.

The freshman congressman referenced Mercedes Benz and Hertz as examples of businesses that used to have operations in New Jersey but have left the state for more favorable business environments. Gottheimer said businesses want to be in New Jersey, but government regulations have made the business environment too hostile.

“To me, it’s clear that this sort of reform is sorely needed,” Gottheimer said. “As I’ve said, I hear from New Jersey businesses all the time about the difficulty they have with burdensome and unnecessary regulations. They’re being hampered in their ability to grow and create jobs by the incredible amount of effort they’re expending to comply with redundant and unnecessary regulation.”

Gottheimer also met with Susses County Chamber of Commerce President Tammie Horsfield on Wednesday. The takeaway from that meeting, Gottheimer said, was that the business environment in Sussex County needs to improve in order to keep and attract employers.

Horsfield said she was pleased to see the congressman working across the aisle on solutions that would aid businesses in the county.

SDLqI applaud Congressman Gottheimer’s efforts to try to reduce regulations on business, both big and small,” Horsfield said. SDLqThe challenging economy alone has made it tougher than ever to sustain a business. Government needs to do all it can to help grow our jobs and incentivize our businesses, thereby encouraging them to expand and grow their employee base and salaries of their employees. Many of these unnecessary taxes take from the business’s opportunity to invest in their companies and their people.SDRq

Gottheimer said certain regulations, such as those that deal with providing clean drinking water, should not be lumped in with those that stifle real economic growth.

“But many on the books are out of date and piling up and causing major problems to employers while providing no clear public benefit,” he said. “That is where the Regulatory Improvement Commission created by my bill comes in. They will be tasked with looking at the cumulative impact of regulations across agencies and identifying which can be consolidated and eliminated, taking a surgeon’s scalpel to the regulatory books and eliminating the regulations that are hurting our businesses and no longer serve their purpose while preserving the protections we need to keep our communities safe.”