Gabrielle Russon
Since 2015, state agencies have proposed a staggering number of new rules — more than 16,000, one Republican lawmaker said Tuesday.
“These 16,000-plus rules also include literally hundreds of thousands of pages of documents, application materials and materials that may have been created without your Legislative intent,” Rep. Toby Overdorf told lawmakers on the House floor.
Now, the Republican plan to eliminate some of the state government bureaucracy has cleared the Legislature.
The Legislature passed SB 108 Tuesday to require state agencies to review 20% of their rules annually for the next five years.
“In light of the sheer volume and mindful of the agency personnel, the process will not be completed until 2031,” said Overdorf, who sponsored the House companion bill.
The House passed SB 108 with a 111-0 vote Tuesday with no debate after the Senate unanimously voted for it last month.
Senate President Ben Albritton previously called the bill one of the most important pieces of legislation this Session.
“One of the reasons DOGE efforts at the federal level have become so popular is that people have a problem with unelected federal bureaucrats having so much unchecked authority. Florida is not immune from that kind of scrutiny,” he said in a statement last month. “Outdated and unnecessary rules can cause burdensome bureaucracy, hindering transparency for Floridians, and creating barriers for citizens and businesses struggling to comply.”
Under SB 108, state agencies would conduct annual reviews of their rules and then decide whether to keep a particular rule, make technical changes, significantly change it or repeal it.
The Senate President and House Speaker would be notified about the agency’s plans in a report due by Jan. 1 every year.
A Senate staff analysis warned the bill “may have an indeterminate, negative fiscal impact on state government.”
“The Joint Administrative Procedures Committee (JAPC) and agencies will be required to perform additional work relating to the rule review over the next 5 years. Additionally, there are new notice and publication requirements within the rulemaking process that may create additional workload,” the analysis said. “Agencies and the JAPC will likely be required to spend funds to implement the bill’s requirements. Whether these requirements may be absorbed within each agency’s existing resources is not known.”
