PRINTER'S NO. 427
No. 389 Session of 1977
INTRODUCED BY RITTER, PARKER, McCLATCHY, DOMBROWSKI, ZORD,
D. S. HAYES, ZWIKL, PITTS, WILT, ARMSTRONG, MELUSKEY,
ZITTERMAN, PYLES AND CASSIDY, MARCH 1, 1977
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON FEDERAL-STATE-RELATIONS, MARCH 1, 1977
AN ACT
1 Creating a temporary Joint Legislative Committee on Regulatory
2 Reform; prescribing its powers and duties; and making an
3 appropriation.
4 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5 hereby enacts as follows:
6 Section 1. Short title.
7 This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Legislative
8 Regulatory Reform Act."
9 Section 2. Legislative Findings.
10 It is hereby determined and declared as a matter of
11 legislative findings:
12 (1) That there currently exists in the State of
13 Pennsylvania a vast and pervasive network of statutes and
14 administrative determinations which direct, shape, limit, and
15 supervise private business activity in the State.
16 (2) That this State government regulation of private
17 business may be beneficial to the public interest in order
18 to:
1 (i) control the actions of natural monopolists;
2 (ii) prevent destructive competition;
3 (iii) allocate public resources;
4 (iv) protect consumers, workers, or disadvantaged
5 market participants;
6 (v) redistribute income; and
7 (vi) to protect the vitality of free competition.
8 (3) That despite the pervasiveness of current State
9 regulatory activity, and despite the numerous situations in
10 which regulation is justified, the fundamental health of our
11 economy, our prospects for growth and prosperity, and the
12 full exercise of personal freedoms, depends upon the strength
13 and vitality of our free market system.
14 (4) That in order to protect the vigor of free economic
15 competition, regulation must be strictly limited to those
16 circumstances and times during which the benefits of
17 regulation clearly outweigh the damage to free competition.
18 Because the threat to the fiber of our market system from
19 regulation is so great, there must be a strong presumption
20 against regulation and in favor of solving economic problems
21 using free market mechanisms.
22 (5) That unchecked, regulatory activities tend to
23 outlive the rationales upon which they are based, and tend to
24 broaden their scope to include the control of activities not
25 justified using a cost benefit analysis.
26 (6) That regulation no longer justified by a careful
27 cost-benefit analysis tends to produce the following economic
28 maladjustments:
29 (i) it restricts vigorous and essential private
30 investment activity;
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1 (ii) it maintains artificially high consumer prices,
2 or else fosters dangerous product shortages;
3 (iii) it builds unnecessary barriers to entry;
4 (iv) it maldistributes inputs and outputs both
5 regionally and between producing sectors;
6 (v) it contributes to unemployment and
7 underemployment; and
8 (vi) it sets up situations in which a self
9 perpetuating and degenerating cycle of regulation feeds
10 upon itself and produces new regulatory needs.
11 Section 3. Definitions.
12 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
13 have, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the
14 meanings given to them in this section:
15 "Efficiency analysis." An explicit evaluation of the aims of
16 economic regulation, as discussed above in section 2, and an
17 estimation of the costs of regulation, as discussed above in
18 section 2 but not limited to the costs listed above. This cost-
19 benefit analysis must be both short run and long, and must
20 compare actual current methods of regulation with alternative
21 modes of control.
22 "Regulation." Any act of the General Assembly and any
23 administrative determination which: imposes costs upon the
24 performance of business activity; sets wages, hours, or working
25 conditions; controls conditions of entry into an occupation or
26 certification of participants in an occupation or industry; sets
27 prices or designates product quality; controls the quantity of
28 any business output; pertains to environmental performance;
29 directs or controls geographical location of an industry; or
30 substantially infringes upon the free exercise of business
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1 judgment in any substantial manner.
2 Section 4. Establishment of the Joint Legislative Committee on
3 Regulatory Reform.
4 There is hereby created for the General Assembly a Joint
5 Legislative Committee on Regulatory Reform which shall be a
6 temporary committee of both houses of the General Assembly.
7 Section 5. Joint Legislative Committee on Regulatory Reform
8 Membership.
9 (a) The Joint Legislative Committee on Regulatory Reform
10 hereinafter often referred to as the joint committee shall
11 consist of six members of the Senate and six members of the
12 House of Representatives and 12 members drawn from the general
13 public. Three of the members from the Senate shall be appointed
14 by the President pro tempore, and three shall be appointed by
15 the Senate Minority Leader. Three of the members from the House
16 shall be appointed by the Speaker, and three shall be appointed
17 by the House Minority Leader. The members of the General
18 Assembly serving on the committee shall meet and select 12
19 persons from the general public to serve on the committee. These
20 12 members shall be individuals who are specially qualified to
21 serve on the committee by virtue of their education, training,
22 or experience, but who are not officers or employees of any
23 government. At least two of these 12 individuals must represent
24 each of the following groups:
25 (1) business;
26 (2) labor;
27 (3) consumers; and
28 (4) the academic community.
29 (b) At the first meeting of the full committee a chairperson
30 and vice chairperson shall be elected by the committee
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1 membership.
2 (c) The terms of legislators appointed to the committee
3 shall end by resignation with the termination of service of
4 elected membership in the Legislature.
5 (d) The terms of members drawn from the general public shall
6 end upon submission of a letter of resignation to the committee
7 chairperson, or upon death or incapacity.
8 (e) Vacancies among legislators on the committee between
9 legislative sessions shall be filled in the same manner as
10 provided for standing joint committees but shall not be in
11 violation of the provisions herein specified. Vacancies among
12 members drawn from the general public shall be filled within ten
13 days by the legislative members in the same manner indicated for
14 original appointment.
15 (f) The joint committee shall prescribe its own rules of
16 procedure for the conduct of its affairs. A quorum shall consist
17 of 16 members but hearings may be conducted by six members.
18 Section 6. Responsibilities.
19 The joint committee shall:
20 (1) Compile a comprehensive list of each and every
21 regulatory activity currently conducted by any branch of the
22 Pennsylvania State Government.
23 (2) Prepare an efficiency analysis for each economic
24 regulatory activity.
25 (3) Report on the impact of each regulatory activity
26 upon our current economic recession and recovery.
27 (4) Report on the impact of each regulatory activity
28 upon the rate of price inflation.
29 (5) Report on the interrelationships among State
30 regulatory activities, and between State and local or Federal
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1 activity in each regulatory area. The committee shall
2 investigate and report the existence of any overlapping or
3 inconsistent regulatory activity.
4 (6) Report on the possibility of increasing public
5 participation in regulatory decisions, insuring agency
6 independence from both undue political interference and
7 improper pressures by the regulated industries, and methods,
8 if necessary, to upgrade the quality of regulatory personnel.
9 (7) Make recommendations concerning any needed
10 modifications to each regulatory activity which are required
11 to promote economic efficiency, growth and cyclical
12 stability, price stability, and efficient interaction with
13 local and Federal regulatory activities.
14 (8) Consider the need and advisability of a permanent
15 mechanism to continuously review and evaluate the efficiency
16 of all economic regulatory activity.
17 (9) Present a single comprehensive report on all above
18 mentioned duties not later than October 1, 1978, and other
19 preliminary or supplementary reports as may be deemed
20 appropriate by the joint committee. The comprehensive report
21 will contain draft legislation to implement all joint
22 committee recommendations.
23 Section 7. Powers of the joint legislative committee.
24 The joint legislative committee shall have the power to:
25 (1) Hold meetings as often as may be necessary, during
26 and between legislative sessions, to perform its duties and
27 functions.
28 (2) Conduct hearings relevant to performance of its
29 duties.
30 (3) Subpoena witnesses to testify before the committee,
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1 to produce documents, or to answer written interrogatories of
2 the committee.
3 (4) Issue oaths and affirmations.
4 (5) Appoint an executive director of research for the
5 committee and an assistant director of research. These
6 individuals shall be employed full time until 30 days after
7 submission of the final report of the joint committee, or
8 until December 30, 1978, whichever is earlier. These persons
9 shall be paid salaries competitive with their previous
10 occupations to the extent of available appropriations.
11 (6) Hire other full time professional or clerical staff
12 members as may be deemed necessary by the joint committee.
13 These professional employees may include a professional
14 economist, accountant, counsel, and statistician. The joint
15 committee may also hire on an intermittent basis whatever
16 consultants or special clerical help it deems appropriate to
17 the extent of available appropriations. The joint committee
18 shall establish regulations governing appointment, promotion,
19 dismissal, termination, layoff, suspension, and compensation
20 of employees.
21 (7) The members of the joint committee shall serve
22 without compensation, except that the ordinary and necessary
23 expenses incident to the conduct of joint committee duties
24 shall be reimbursed out of the joint committee appropriation.
25 (8) The joint committee shall have full access to all
26 executive data sources which are relevant to the performance
27 of the duties of the joint committee. Nothing in this
28 section, however, shall violate the privacy guarantees
29 provided in other statutes of the General Assembly.
30 Section 8. Extension of deadlines.
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1 The General Assembly may extend all deadlines listed above
2 for performance of joint committee duties and the employment of
3 the joint committee personnel, by up to 365 days. In any case,
4 the joint committee shall cease to exist 30 days after the
5 submission of its final report.
6 Section 9. State agencies to advise and assist.
7 The Joint Legislative Committee on Regulatory Reform may
8 require comprehensive written reports from any agency or
9 official of the Commonwealth concerning any regulatory activity
10 that such agency or official is engaged in, or is concerned
11 with. Whenever requested by the joint committee, the head of any
12 Commonwealth department or agency shall give such advice and
13 assistance and submit such written reports as the joint
14 committee may request.
15 Section 10. Appropriation.
16 The sum of $100,000, or as much thereof as may be necessary,
17 is hereby appropriated to the Joint Legislative Committee on
18 Regulatory Reform for the performance of its duties.
19 Section 11. Effective date.
20 This act shall take effect immediately.
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