Executive Order

Executive Order  No. 187: Mandating that secretariats of the Commonwealth define the scope, intent, and purpose of regulations being adopted as part of all existing and newly-promulgated regulations and resolve any interagency regulatory conflicts

Date: 11/06/1980
Issuer: Edward J. King
Mass Register: No. 236

Table of Contents

WHEREAS, the Governor's Commission to Simplify Rules and Regulations was established by Executive Order No. 155; and

WHEREAS, said Commission has recommended certain actions be taken to initiate regulatory reform measures for economic development;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Edward J. King, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes of the Commonwealth do hereby order and direct that:

  1. For the purpose of this Executive Order "Regulation" shall mean any regulation affecting economic development, including regulations which directly affect the construction, alteration, or usage of facilities or land, either public or private, including any residential, industrial, or commercial project or facility. Also to be included are those regulations which have a demonstrable fiscal impact on the aforementioned.
  2. Each cabinet secretary shall review all existing regulations, proposed regulations, and proposed amendments to existing regulations which have been or are proposed to be issued by any agency within their respective executive office. This review shall ensure that all regulations include a clear statement setting forth: (a) the reason why the regulation(s) are being or have been adopted or why they are being amended; (b) the scope of the regulation(s) or amendment(s); and (c) the reason why the regulation(s), if new, could not practicably be included as an amendment to existing regulations. All new regulations or amendments to existing regulations shall, to the fullest extent practicable, state obligations of parties subject to the regulation in terms of numerically quantified performance standards. Wherever it not practicable to do so, cabinet secretaries shall state the reasons therefor.
  3. With respect to all existing regulations, the review shall be completed within two years from the effective date of this Executive Order. Each cabinet secretary shall submit to the Governor within 60 days a schedule of said reviews which will ensure the completion of said reviews as rapidly as possible. To the fullest extent practicable, the schedule should provide for the completion of the reviews of one quarter of all existing regulations every six months over the next two years and secretariats will report the degree of compliance with this goal at each six-month interval.
  4. At the end of each six-month period, as directed by the Governor, the cabinet secretaries shall meet to identify, consider, and resolve interagency regulatory conflicts. Once conflicts are identified, the cabinet secretaries shall direct those agencies under their respective control to proceed under appropriate provisions of the General Laws to re- solve said conflicts. If legislation is required, the cabinet secretaries shall draft and submit to the General Court appropriate bills for legislative consideration.
  5. The cabinet secretaries shall assure that every regulation reviewed is drafted in plain, direct language, and organized and presented in a way that makes it accessible, comprehensible, and unambiguous to the parties it affects.

Given at the Executive Chamber in Boston this 6th day of November, in the year of Our Lord one thousand nine hundred and eighty and of the independence of the United States of America, two-hundred and five.

EDWARD J. KING
GOVERNOR
Commonwealth of Massachusetts

MICHAEL JOSEPH CONNOLLY
Secretary of the Commonwealth

Contact   for No. 187: Mandating that secretariats of the Commonwealth define the scope, intent, and purpose of regulations being adopted as part of all existing and newly-promulgated regulations and resolve any interagency regulatory conflicts

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