2.14.25 – The Topeka Capital-Journal – Jason Alatidd
The Kansas regulation making process uses paper and wet ink stamps, with files carried between agencies. State officials want modernization software.
Kansas government officials are working to modernize the state’s decades-old, paper-based system for making regulations.
Secretary of State Scott Schwab’s office is proceeding with the regulation modernization initiative and has issued a request for proposals for a software vendor, but will need funding from the Legislature.
“A paper-based system lacks transparency for Kansans who are affected by, and often bear the cost of, state government regulations,” Schwab said in a statement. “The current process is outdated, has many flaws, increases the potential for human error, and is inefficient.”
Clay Barker, general counsel at the secretary of state’s office, presented last month to the House Legislative Modernization Committee and the Senate Government Efficiency Committee.
“Right now the regulation process is a 1965 all-paper, wet ink stamp system,” Barker said. “You carry files around between agencies. We want to put it online. … Therefore you can get more input and more transparency on the process, and it would just bring a lot of, I think, cost efficiencies, and make it easier to track regulations and public notice.”
How does Kansas government create regulations?
Barker said there are “a lot of complaints about” the regulation process. While “there’s no single agency that is in charge of regulations,” Barker said the secretary of state’s office is “very involved.”
“Since we’re the one that publishes all the regulations, we kind of work with all the other agencies,” he said.
A regulation goes through multiple steps before it goes into effect, which Barker described as “checks and balances inside the system.”
Once the Legislature grants authority to an agency, the agency writes the regulation.
“They go to the Department of Administration, which has an entire manual about how to write a regulation correctly, and they’ll go back and forth a few times until the Department of Administration says it’s OK,” Barker said.
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Barker said, “They cover it in red ink, kind of like a high school English paper, send it back, you fix it.”
Then it goes to the attorney general.
“The attorney general’s role is to determine whether the regulation is legal, including whether making the regulation is within the authority conferred by the law,” he said. “Their job is to make sure that the grant of authority from the Legislature is being followed by the agency. Sometimes the agency is surprised when a Legislature thinks the agency has gone outside what the scope was when they’ve had the attorney general approve it.”
From there, the regulation is reviewed by the division of budget. Then, lawmakers on the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules and Regulations hold a public meeting to review it. After that, there is a public hearing. Finally, the regulation can be adopted.
“That process can take a few months; it can take more than a year,” Barker said. “And at every step of the way, if your regulation gets rejected, it’s back to the beginning. It’s like do not pass go, do not collect $200, go try again. That’s why it can take a long time to get a regulation out.”
Barker said a simple regulatory action, such as tweaking a word or phrase, could take two to three months. Larger regulatory changes can go through cycles of rejection at other steps in the process, which can then take a year or more to get through. Delays can also be cause in other ways, such as a lawsuit.
“It’s not that it’s people are dragging their feet — or at least, I hope not — but sometimes the process just takes a while because some of these regulations are pretty big and complicated,” he said.
Kansas is looking for regulation software
The secretary of state’s office has an open request for proposals for regulation modernization initiative software.
The RFP notes that a total of 135 agencies, boards and commissions would use the software, which must be able to manage the workflows established by agency processes and state law.
Barker said the project is being led by Whitney Tempel, the office’s director of communications and policy.
“The RFP is in,” Barker said. “We’re working with the budget committees. I think we’re testifying today asking for that. That would be SGF money. It’s a one time startup cost. And again, no agency is in charge of the process. So Secretary Schwab volunteered to, I guess, jump on that hand grenade of asking for money from the Legislature when he knows money’s tight.”
While the office doesn’t need legislative action, it is requesting funding for the project. Tempel said the project is expected to cost about $1.5 million a year.
More:Kansas lawmakers take away power from bureaucrats to impose regulations costly to business
“Since 1965, the rule and regulation making process has been entirely paper based,” Tempel said. “It lacks transparency and is very flawed. The current process is outdated, prone to human error, inefficient and increasingly cumbersome in today’s digital age.”
She said agencies “physically pass the paper draft for editing, legal review and stamping from one agency to another.”
She said that paper-based process leads to several issues, such as missing pages, ADA compliance, human error, staff turnover, version control, wasted paper and difficulty with the mandatory five-year review and answering questions from lawmakers.
Rep. Jesse Borjon, R-Topeka, previously worked in the secretary of state’s office for 12 years.
“Our initiative was to start moving some of those paper filings online and taking advantage of some of the digital opportunities that were out there,” said Borjon, who is vice chair of the House committee. “So I’m delighted to see that that work has continued, and loving what I’m hearing today. Nice job.”
Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@gannett.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.