You probably have never heard of the New Mexico Small Business Regulatory Advisory Commission. That’s okay. Nobody else has heard of it either.
In 20 years, this commission hasn’t done much – maybe nothing. The statute says its job is to identify regulations proposed by state agencies that might be harmful to small business and recommend possible changes. A worthwhile mission, don’t you think?
Ever since this commission was created by statute in 2005 (§14-4A-5 NMSA), I have checked periodically to see how it was doing and have not been surprised to find it usually doing nothing. The commission has had several long periods of inaction because there were not enough members to constitute a quorum.
I got myself appointed as a member of this commission a few years ago, to see if I could liven it up. I couldn’t. I have resigned, but I am still listed as a member, probably because there isn’t anyone to fill my place.
(To clarify, the city of Albuquerque has a commission with the same name. This column is about the state commission.)
The legislation that created this commission was rather carelessly written. It puts nobody in charge. It says state agencies are supposed to send their proposed regulations to the commission but there is no enforcement of that requirement. Though the commission is attached to the Economic Development Department, there is is no requirement for that department to contact other agencies. I suspect most agencies don’t know the requirement exists.
Just as important, the legislation makes no distinction between regulations that are likely to have an effect on small business and those that won’t.
During my brief tenure on the commission, the only agency that sent proposed regulations for review was the Environment Department. The regulations were about radiation levels, had no direct relationship to small business, and were highly technical. Credit goes to the Environment Department for complying with the law, but their efforts did not accomplish anything.
Concern about overregulation is experiencing a resurgence among Democratic policy nerds, especially those, including our governor, who are frustrated that construction of affordable housing in New Mexico is so unbearably slow. These conversations are motivated not only by the wish to get something done but also by concern about keeping New Mexico’s Democratic majority.
The issue has been raised in a recent book titled “Abundance,” by New York Times writer Ezra Klein and Atlantic writer Derek Thompson, which has become popular with those same Democratic policy nerds.
The writers make the point that when Democrats are in charge they tend to overregulate.
To quote the Google summary, “The authors argue that the regulatory environment in many liberal cities, while well intentioned, stymies development and that Democrats have been more concerned with blocking bad economic development than promoting good development.”
I saw that firsthand during my 18 years at the New Mexico Worker’s Compensation Administration. The rules were written by people who understood regulation but didn’t understand business. Nobody from the business community showed up to object.
The statute that created the SBRAC has a second part, §14-4A-6 NMSA. That paragraph requires every agency to review all its rules every five years “to determine whether the rules should be continued without change or should be amended or repealed to minimize the economic impact of the rules on small businesses, subject to compliance with the stated objectives of the laws pursuant to which the rules were adopted.” I am pretty sure that has never been done. Again, the statutory language does not put anyone in charge.
The Economic Development Department has been letting this issue slide for 20 years. New Mexico needs the leadership of the business community to take it on.
Merilee Dannemann’s columns are posted at www.triplespacedagain.com. Comments are invited through the web site.