Just before the close of business Friday, Gov. Rick Scott issued an executive order âreaffirmingâ his deregulatory push and kicking off its next phase.
Executive Order 11-72 supersedes Executive Order 11-01, which Scott signed just after taking office. Order 11-01 froze state contracts and pending regulations and created the Office of Fiscal Accountability and Regulatory Reform, which was tasked with reviewing existing state regulations.
The review came to an end on April 4. With the help of state agencies, the office has recommended 1,685 rules or rule subsections for repeal, and another 1,457 for revision.
Meanwhile, a blind woman preparing to reapply for food stamps has filed a lawsuit with the Florida Supreme Court, arguing the rule freeze is unconstitutional because the governor has no direct authority over rulemaking, which is an authority given to state agencies by the legislature.
The order signed Friday would keep the deregulatory office in place and require state agencies to submit proposed rules to the office for approval. It also calls for the office to create âperformance metricsâ to measure state agencies.
Scottâs order also requires agencies to recommend rules for elimination or modification by May 1. Under a measure proposed in the state House, that would give the governor two months to then repeal rules under an expedited âsummary process.â In future years, a similar review would have to be conducted by July 1.
