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2014 SESSION

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14103852D
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 177 Offered January 17, 2014 Memorializing the Congress of the United States to propose the Regulation Freedom Amendment to the United States Constitution. ---------- Patron-- Wilt ---------- Referred to Committee on Rules ----------

WHEREAS, the Regulation Freedom Amendment would increase transparency and accountability in federal rulemaking and greatly benefit the citizens of the United States; and

WHEREAS, the United States currently has over 300 independent and executive agencies, staffed by unelected officials, issuing thousands of rules and regulations each year that frequently involve the everyday lives of people throughout the Commonwealth and the nation; and

WHEREAS, while federal rules and regulations often benefit the public, many people share the concern that the ever-increasing amount of rules and regulations has slowed economic growth by increasing consumer and compliance costs and limiting job creation; and

WHEREAS, to address this issue, members of both houses of the United States Congress have proposed the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act; while the REINS Act passed the United States House of Representatives in 2011 and 2013, it has not come to a vote in the United States Senate; and

WHEREAS, the newly developed Regulation Freedom Amendment provides another method to ensure that regulatory agencies remain accountable to the citizenry of the United States and encourage economic growth by reducing the costs associated with rules and regulations; and

WHEREAS, the Regulation Freedom Amendment states: “Whenever one quarter of the Members of the U.S. House or the U.S. Senate transmit to the President their written declaration of opposition to a proposed federal regulation, it shall require a majority vote of the House and Senate to adopt that regulation.”; and

WHEREAS, several state legislatures throughout the United States are considering the Regulation Freedom Amendment; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Congress of the United States be urged to propose the Regulation Freedom Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the members of the Virginia Congressional Delegation so that they may be apprised of the sense of the General Assembly of Virginia in this matter.