Report Tackles Michigan’s culture of needless red tape

House Rules Committee Chair Bill G. Schuette today was joined by other committee members and representatives of Michigan’s business community to unveil critical reform proposals that will curtail unnecessary regulation in Michigan and lower cost-of-living burdens.

“We need to be focused on ways to make Michigan the best state in the nation to start a business, raise a family and grow your career. Unfortunately, our state government and bureaucracy has made our state too expensive to build a home, open a daycare or build a business. With the thousands of pages of red tape facing our families and small businesses it is no surprise that our population has stagnated and we rank 44^th in the nation in new job creation.” Schuette said. “Our report lays out concrete, commonsense proposals on how we can make government work better for Michiganders and get needless obstacles out of the way of Michiganders.”

The Red Tape Reduction Initiative outlines a series of potential changes that “gets government out of the way” in a variety of areas – making it work more effectively for the people and professionals it represents.

“Many of Michigan’s rules are out of step with states we constantly compete against, putting us at a disadvantage,” Schuette said. “Our committee has reviewed a wide range of state rules, permitting procedures and licenses. We have talked with local job providers and licensed professionals about the extensive hoops they constantly have to jump through. This was a deep dive that has produced concrete recommendations to bring results and lower these burdens and costs for Michigan families.”

Schuette said the recommendations forge bipartisan ground. House Republicans have long pushed for reforms to rein in rogue bureaucrats and roll back out-of-control government rules that don’t make sense and raise costs. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer echoed these concerns in her State of the State address earlier this year, making it clear that there’s room for collaboration to cut red tape. Whitmer’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs has also made several recommendations to streamline the state’s licensing process while cutting out unnecessary barriers, and the Rules Committee’s proposals align with the department on many of these issues.

Areas the Red Tape Reduction Initiative will focus on include:

• Occupational licensing – Getting and keeping an occupational license in Michigan means filing forms, sitting through time-consuming classes and forking over fees. Since these processes require time and money, it becomes more expensive and difficult for contractors to build houses, doctors to treat patients, barbers to cut hair and more. These processes also discourage people from entering into or staying in these fields. Reforms mentioned in the report include lowering minimum continuing education requirements, lengthening the lifetime of licenses to cut down on renewal processes, allowing qualified professionals who studied abroad to get licensed more easily, and more.

• Lessening the burdens of licensing – The state has many over-the-top license requirements for a wide range of random professions, like potato dealers, school librarians and plant growers. The initiative looks to eliminate unnecessary state licenses that get in the way of people’s livelihoods.

• Permitting – Before building a new home, farm building, or storefront, developers have to get a wide variety of state permits. After paying filing fees, applicants often wait months only for their permits to be denied. The proposals stress common sense and fairness by simplifying permit applications, working to streamline approvals and addressing unfair denials.

• Health care – Arbitrary regulations force doctors and nurses to waste time with busy work instead of saving lives, while patients get stuck with longer wait times and higher bills for needed care. More red tape means more care professionals are discouraged from practicing in Michigan. The committee’s proposals include eliminating redundant state exams, which some professionals must take on top of a national exam, eliminating duplicative inspections, and providing a standardized renewal process for all mental health professionals.

• Housing – With burdensome regulations, licenses and permits, the cost of building new houses or apartment buildings skyrockets – pricing Michigan families out of homes that fit their needs. The proposals outline methods such as eliminating unnecessary licensing requirements for trades like roofing or floor sanding, allowing aspiring architects to learn valuable tools through apprenticeships and codifying a 2024 model building code that is more flexible, reasonable and cost-effective than an outdated 2021 code.

“I look forward to continued discussions on these issues and getting legislation introduced and passed,” Schuette said. “As we have clearly heard over these past several months, Republicans and Democrats are in agreement – excessive state regulations create barriers and increase costs for skilled workers, small businesses, health care providers and homebuilders. We should be working to remove these restrictions and opening new pathways for job creation, housing, health care and other priorities for the people of our state. This is a road map for doing so.”

PHOTO INFORMATION: House Rules Committee Chair Bill G. Schuette speaks on the committee’s Red Tape Reduction Initiative Report on Thursday, June 12. The report explores ways to scale back Michigan’s regulatory reach to make the state more competitive and affordable while ensuring state government works more effectively for people it represents.