2.20.25 – OCPA – Ray Carter
An effort to significantly reduce major state regulations has received overwhelming, bipartisan support in the Oklahoma House of Representatives.
“This is a major step toward ensuring the people’s elected representatives — not unelected agencies — have the final say on costly regulations,” said state Rep. Gerrid Kendrix, R-Altus. “State agencies hold significant power in implementing laws, and this bill makes sure the Legislature plays a more active role in the process.”
House Bill 2728, by Kendrix, would create the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act of 2025.
Under the bill, a Legislative Economic Analysis Unit (LEAU) will be created within the existing Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT) to independently review and assess the economic impact of major rules proposed by state agencies.
The legislation defines “major rule” to include any agency rule with an economic impact of $1 million or more over a five-year period.
The process proposed in HB 2728 is a dramatic shift from Oklahoma’s current administrative-rules process.
Under HB 2728, a major rule with an impact of $1 million or more cannot take effect unless it is explicitly approved by both chambers of the Legislature.
The process proposed in HB 2728 is a dramatic shift from the current administrative-rules process.
Under current law, all state agency rules automatically go into effect unless specifically rejected by the Legislature.
Kendrix and state Sen. Micheal Bergstrom, R-Adair, who each chair their chamber’s respective administrative rules committee, have noted that lawmakers can seldom read all proposed rules because of the large volume, let alone identify those with the worst impact.
Agencies have submitted 266 packets this year, totaling thousands of pages of proposed regulations.
Because rules currently take effect unless specifically rejected, Oklahoma government now imposes more regulations on its citizens than what is the norm in most states.
According to the 2024 edition of “Snapshots of State Regulations,” issued by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Oklahoma is the 17th-most regulated state in the country with 142,313 regulations on the books. In comparison, Idaho, the nation’s least-regulated state, has just 31,497 regulations in place.
“This legislation strengthens accountability by making sure agency rules receive independent review before becoming law,” said House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow.
“The rise of decentralized movements like DOGE shows that people value transparency, accountability, and freedom from unchecked control,” said John Tidwell, state director with Americans for Prosperity-Oklahoma. “The REINS Act embodies these same principles by ensuring that unelected bureaucrats can’t impose costly regulations without legislative approval. State and federal governments must remain accountable to the people they serve. By passing the REINS Act, Oklahoma is reinforcing the fundamental idea that power should rest with the representatives elected by the people—not with runaway regulatory agencies.”
House Bill 2728 passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives on a bipartisan 86-3 vote.
The bill now proceeds to the Oklahoma Senate, where an identical measure has already advanced from a Senate committee.