AGC and 54 other business groups, led by the Association of Washington Business, have called on Governor Inslee to postpone all non-critical rulemaking at state agencies during the coronavirus crisis.
“Despite the ongoing health crisis, state agency rulemaking has been proceeding on previously established timelines,” the business groups told the Governor. “However, the hardship caused by the crisis and the economic toll on the economy has meant that business have not been able to fully participate in the stakeholder outreach process and provide important feedback to help craft workable regulations. Therefore, we would like to request a temporary halt to all non-critical rulemaking at state agencies for the duration of this crisis similar to the moratorium enacted during the Great Recession. This temporary halt would include the ongoing development of new rules and the implementation of any rule which is due in the coming six months. Currently, the owners of these businesses are consumed by the need to provide for their employees and their livelihoods and have no time or attention to participate in the rulemaking process.
“Additionally, we have no clear idea on what the economic and business environment will look like six months or a year from now. Regulations that seemed reasonable tradeoffs when the economy was booming may now be fatal costs to business trying to recover and rebuild their customer bases. A temporary freeze will allow the economic picture to become clearer and let businesses and state workers produce rules that will fit the new economic landscape better.”
At press time, the Governor’s office had not responded to this request from the business community.