Report: Nebraska’s Regulatory Code Would Take You 10 Weeks to Read

A new report by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University uses a computer program to identify restrictions in Nebraska state regulation. One reason for digitizing the process is that it would otherwise take someone over 10 weeks to read the 100,627 restrictions spread out over 7.5 million words in the state’s administrative code.

While the report shows Nebraska is far from the worst in the country, there remains room for improvement.

The report uses Mercatus’ RegData tool to highlights which industries are subject to the most state regulation; (1) ambulatory health care services, (2) nursing and residential care facilities, (3) chemical manufacturing, (4) hospitals, and (5) food manufacturing.  As a result, Gov. Pete Ricketts has issued Executive Order 17-04, which requires all state agencies to review their regulations and submit their findings by November of this year.

The Platte Institute is working with the Mercatus Center to review the state’s regulatory code and identify the most economically harmful requirements.  Identifying which industries are most regulated and unnecessary regulations that are currently in place will help free up resources that could otherwise be used to grow the economy.  As pointed out in the study, “……the states are also active regulators, suggesting the true impact of regulation on society is far greater than that of federal regulation alone.”

The top regulators in Nebraska are the Department of Health and Human Services contributing over a third of all restrictions in the state and the Department of Environmental Quality at 8.5 percent of all restrictions. This shows a huge gap in regulation between state agencies that needs to be addressed.

The Platte Institute is excited to continue working with legislators and allies like the Mercatus Center in reducing regulatory burdens for Nebraska’s workers and entrepreneurs.

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